


University In Shibuya

by AFalsePrayer



Category: Chaos;Head, Science Adventure, Steins;Gate
Genre: College, Gen, Post-Canon, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:13:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFalsePrayer/pseuds/AFalsePrayer
Summary: Shibuya, a bustling Tokyo district. Most famous for its crossing, nightlife and stations, known as a centre of Tokyo commerce. Day and night, people crossing streets--you would never spot an empty road. The Tokyo district that never slept. If the crossing is ever deserted, life has either completely vanished, or your brain is deceiving you.But in truth, not all seemed as it were, and the border between truth and fiction laid between our preconceptions.(Prior reading of Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head is not necessary, but recommended for this story.)
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Shibuya, a bustling Tokyo district. Most famous for its crossing, nightlife and stations, known as a centre of Tokyo commerce. Day and night, people crossing streets—you would never spot an empty road. The Tokyo district that never slept. If the crossing is ever deserted, life has either completely vanished, or your brain is deceiving you.

And today, people were crossing that street as usual. The streetlights signalling green, and a sea of people walking between streets.

Among one of those people was a girl wearing a backpack, a scarf wrapped around her neck, her face hidden in its warmth. It was April, and people were already beginning to wear shirts; it wasn’t as cold as the winter, so there wasn’t much reason to wear scarves anymore. Still, she continued walking through the crowd.

She was wearing some sort of black leather jacket over a white blouse, with her hood over her head. It was hard to tell what kind of person she was, with her lips hidden behind the scarf and eyes clouded by her hood. If you were to look at her from afar, you might say she’s from a rock band, or she’s on a bandit mission. She seemed like the kind of person you could kneel for, a goddess underneath that clothing.

But in truth, not all seemed as it were, and the border between truth and fiction laid between our preconceptions.

The girl continued walking down the streets of Shibuya, her pace quickening and her breath shortening. She was in a hurry. After turning onto the next street, she reached her destination, the university’s main building.

“I’ll be making walks like this often, huh? At least I chose to live here instead of taking the train from Akiba,” she said, as she removed her scarf from her neck and took off her hood, revealing her beautiful lips and stunning eyes. Her face was gorgeous, and her hair billowed in the wind, held together by a skull hairpin. A few students nearby noticed and were staring at her.

Luka Urushibara. Described as a stunning sight of beauty, a pinnacle of femininity. Someone who took care of the grounds as a shrine maiden, the child of the shrine priest. That’s who Luka was. Dressed in girl’s clothing, and gentle like a lotus flower, silent upon the water and waiting to bloom, waiting to mature into the goddess she was.

And yet, the true beauty of that lotus is not gained from the outside, but rather the inside. Emerging from the grime and mud, it shines not despite but because of its mud. Though the lotus’s petals emerge pink, no natural law states that her stigma inside is pink either.

That’s right. Despite all outward and feminine appearances, Luka was not a girl.

Luka was the son of the shrine priest, and he was now attending university in Shibuya. Despite the carefully designed scarf and hairpin, he was male. Despite what others told him he should be, he was male. Despite the way he acted and behaved, he was male.

And Luka was completely fine with that.

Luka stood in front of the building. He could feel the pressure on his shoulders. This was no longer his high school; this was the real world. The university students entered and left the building, some talking to each other, while others simply headed straight for the train station. For some reason, Luka felt as if there were a pair of eyes looking at him from behind. When he turned around, no one was there.

Whose eyes were those eyes?

Luka shook his head. He didn’t need to burden his mind with these thoughts. This was a new world to him, and nobody knew him. Other than a few classmates from his old school who he never talked to, everyone was a stranger. A fresh start for him, and a place for him to do as an adult. As his past mentor once had said to him...

"El Psy Kongroo," he whispered to himself.

Move forth, if only to change the world.

Never regret the past. Look forward to the future.

The present is the only thing that we can change with our free will.

Behind him, cherry trees swayed with their blossoming flowers. Pink petals flew through the air, scattering themselves around in various arrangements. Luka was entranced by the performance. Was there a pattern to the way they flew? Were they simply spreading around by random chance and coincidence? Why did they blossom for so short throughout the year?

Luka had seen plenty of flowers blossom in his own house, but it was always a beautiful sight to behold every single time. It took Luka minutes to realise that he indeed had a class to catch, and he finally entered the building.

When Luka opened the doors, he was greeted with a sight that seemed rather similar to his days at high school. The floors seemed to be neat and tidy, likely in preparation for the new year. The sunlight shone through the window, creating all sorts of shadows in the halls. There were already posters being put up on boards that Luka could see, recruiting for student clubs and organisations.

The hallway was packed with people. Some were leaning up against the windows, and some were gathered around a door, likely waiting for the professor to open up. Luka could begin to tell what groups there were—there was a group of quiet intellectuals sitting in the corner, slightly hunched over, talking at a fast and unintelligible pace, with their glasses covering their acne-ridden faces. Luka could also pick out a group of shopping brats, wearing fancy shoes and likely skipping class to visit the malls. It was a very active day for a Shibuya school.

Meanwhile, Luka was panicked. It was two minutes from his first class's lecture, and he didn’t want to miss class on the first day. He was a good student, and he wanted to prove his competence in college. He’d heard from his former classmates about how they were planning to skip class and fool around, or how college wasn’t important at all, but that was below his concerns. Right now, he needed to get to his first classroom.

He also needed to find people to build a network with. He wasn’t familiar with anyone, and it would be hard to find friends without meeting people in his class. His friend, Rintaro Okabe, had zero connections outside of the Future Gadget Laboratory, and Luka didn’t want to make that sort of mistake for himself.

Luka looked back down at the map which he picked up at the front table. To get to class, he would go like that, with a hallway going down that way, a right turn, till that corner. And then another turn from the entrance from the east side...

Wait, had he come from the east or west side? Where had he come from?

Luka looked up from the paper he was holding and scanned around frantically for anyone friendly enough to tell him how to get to class. Nothing. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business, and he didn’t see any upperclassmen here. He wasn’t about to miss his first class, right?

"Ahhh, watch out!!"

“Huh? Oh no!”

Before Luka could move out of the way, something crashed into him, fast and hard. Luka quickly stepped backwards, but his feet slipped on the floor beneath him, causing his body to fall.

“Ahhh!”

The impact hurt less than he expected; the textbook in Luka’s backpack had taken most of the cushioning, but the person who crashed into him was right on top. Luka felt his lungs expel, and he failed to regain his strength, now too stressed and nervous. Luka groaned in pain, trying to get up without success.

The person was warmly pressed against him. It felt soft. Her blonde hair was tucked in a ball of some sort, with a purple hairband in the way. Was it a girl? Luka didn’t know, but he was already figuring out how to push this person off of him.

Finally, the intruder lifted their face from Luka’s chest, and it was a girl. She began panicking, quickly getting up and picking up her supplies. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t see where I was going, excuse me! Sorry!” 

Luka was able to catch her details, despite the rush. The girl had purple eyes and was wearing a white high collar shirt, red tie, with black stockings below. She was someone who cared about her appearance for college, unlike some boys, who Luka could see across the hall.

The girl bent down and seemed to be in a panic. "I'm so sorry, but I'm in a hurry and need to get to class." She started picking up the stuff that had fallen onto the ground— pencils, pens, notebooks, it was as if she had forgotten to pack her stuff in a backpack in the morning.

Compared to this girl, Luka had been wary of preparing a lot for his supplies. Their American friend, Miss Makise had come to Tokyo for a quick trip last month, and she helped Luka and Mayuri out with getting ready for college. After all, she finished college a long time ago, so she had the experience. Admittedly, it was an extremely prestigious American university that she attended, much more impressive than any Japanese school would offer, but Miss Makise still trusted herself over Okabe teaching Luka and Mayuri.

Speaking of his friend Mayuri, she was going to another college entirely in Okazaki. She wanted to continue her craft in cosplay, and she said she even considered making a career out of it. Luka personally was glad that she was pursuing her passions; her craft was extremely good, and the one time Luka tried out cosplay, she’d been so incredibly helpful with making his outfit perfect.

However, that meant that Luka would be the only one going to school in Shibuya. The other lab members were either working at their jobs or hanging around at the lab. He himself chose this school to get away from the shrine, and he wanted to try out a field that focused on business and people instead of moe and electronics. As much as he loved Akiba, he wanted something new and perhaps unfamiliar. That’s what Okabe believed Luka needed as well, and he had full confidence in him for some reason. “Lukako, you are wizard, yes,” Okabe had said. Luka was pretty sure Okabe’s English wasn’t correct, but he was glad nonetheless for Okabe’s confidence.

Luka felt bad for this girl that he’d crashed into. Miss Makise had mentioned that it was a difficult transition to independence after high school. While Luka had been prepped, this girl might not have had such luck.

“Anyway, bye-bye! I’ve gotta go!” The girl ran off carrying her textbooks in her arms, nearly tripping over herself again. Luka noted her untied shoelaces, and he secretly dreaded having to see her fall again. It was horrible, but it was inevitable.

Luka himself got up from the floor, dusting himself off, and he discovered a yellow phone left on the ground. He inspected it, picking it up and examining its details. What a nice looking phone, Luka thought. It's got a nice key chain on it too. A cool little Gero Froggy. Aren’t they out of fashion now?

"...Oh no, that’s probably her phone." Luka murmured to himself. He didn't know what to do with it. Should he call a number? Or should he look around for the girl that had lost it? Should he chase after her? Should he just look for her later? He had class soon, didn’t he?

Luka heard a professor yell into the hallway, something about not blocking up the corridors. Luka jolted, alarmed by the fact that he'd forgotten about his class, which was already starting. Luka began immediately, hurriedly asking the nearest student next to him about directions, and ran off, forgetting to thank her or ask for her name. He was missing his first lecture, oh god, he couldn’t be late—

—-

Luka exited the classroom and clutched his chest, wrapping his scarf around his neck again. “Thank god, the professor didn’t yell at me...” Luka had managed to get into the room without any disturbances, and despite being tardy, the professor was kind enough to let him go, saying that he’d encountered a lot of students who would break from the pressure of such a strict schedule.

What a nice professor. Luka would be sure to send him a gift sometime soon.

Luka headed towards the exit of the building. He wasn’t doing too bad for the first day. The rest of the lectures during the morning had been easy, with the first one being about Japanese culture, something that Luka had experienced first-hand back in Akihabara. The idea of college was no longer as daunting as he thought.

Now that lunch was coming around, Luka had to find a place to eat. As he pushed the door to go outside, his hand took out the girl’s phone. How was he going to return it?

He flipped it open, poked around through the settings, and found the name. "Nanami Nishijo," Luka read aloud. For some reason, that last name rang a bell to Luka's ears. Hadn't he heard it somewhere before? Maybe the name had appeared on the news once...

In any case, he should locate her. It was the polite thing to do. How should he do that? Should he call one of her friends? Wait, how would they even contact her if she didn’t have her phone with her?

Luka went through the contact book, but he didn’t know who to call. There was "Brother", "Rimi" listed as her most recent calls and emails. Was there anything there?

He dialled both numbers, but to his dismay, nobody picked up. Their voicemails were equally useless, with one going to an automated message, and the other one simply having no such function at all. Had those phones not even been set up with it?

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Luka said. He was worried. He was hoping to resolve this issue earlier when he had the chance, but now he had this ticking time bomb in his hand. “...Perhaps I’ll run into her if I wait outside the entrance to the food court,” Luka said to himself. “Everyone is going to lunch sooner or later, and they’ll have to go through here for that, right?"

That seemed like a reasonable claim. Luka started heading over to the food court, but he couldn’t help but second-guess himself. He started whispering to himself, muffled by the scarf he had. “But what if I'm wrong? Maybe they decided to not even have lunch in the court. They could have it in any of the restaurants outside.”

Luka shook his head. If the girl wasn’t at the food court, he’d end up wasting his time, and his stomach was beginning to desire food for itself. And while Okabe might have had the time to do that and claim nobility, Luka didn't want to waste his time.

"What food is there around here in Shibuya anyway? I wonder..."

Luka rarely went to Shibuya, and even if he did, it was to accompany Mayuri while she shopped for clothing. He never really ate out either, preferring homemade food, so he was relying on other people’s opinions. According to Mayuri, there was a noodle shop a few blocks down. There was also a nice café down the street, which Luka had been recommended by the college. He could probably eat at a random McD's, but he didn't want to rely on that for the few years to come. 

"Hm..." Luka left the college campus and started heading in the direction of the noodle shop. He could have lunch and relax at the coffee shop for the afternoon. The coffee shop was partners with the college, so Miss Nishijo might happen to arrive and retrieve her phone here too. It was wishful thinking, but Luka didn’t want to waste more time than he needed.

Luka's footsteps were almost muted, compared to the abundance of noise around him. As the largest abundance of people in Tokyo, Shibuya was an incredibly noisy city. It was even more so in the past few years, due to the reconstruction that was happening. There were machines all over the place, rebuilding from the damage that had occurred nearly three years ago.

That was right. Luka wouldn't forget that event on the news at all. Shibuya had fallen to the ground, and it was all over the news on the morning of 7 November 2009. It has been an incredibly trying period for Shibuya, where people grieved over all things and all those precious to them that they lost during the earthquake. It had taken many lives and seemed to only bring despair to the district.

Looking around, Luka could see the work on buildings being restored. The 107 building was already repaired, as well as many roads. Many buildings on the east side were still being restored, some businesses having been moved away from Shibuya to other districts. Last time, Luka heard that there was a whole park dedicated to people who lost their homes to the earthquake and had nowhere to go.

It saddened Luka. If Akihabara had fallen to an earthquake, he wouldn't know where he'd live, nor where the shrine would stand. So many precious things to him would be lost forever, and as someone influential to Akiba’s shrine, it would be akin to a nursery being burned in front of his eyes.

I’m sure Faris would agree with me. Her affiliation with the city runs even deeper than mine, and Akiba’s an irreplaceable part of our hearts.

Yet despite the damage on Shibuya, reconstruction didn’t make the city any less alive. People were fighting for Shibuya. It was the power of reintegration, and Luka liked the new colour that Shibuya had. A new sleek look, giving it more activity.

Rebuilding Shibuya, one step at a time. Was that the slogan?

Luka didn’t realise he’d taken a wrong turn until he walked down into the subway, and he found a noodle shop. The train lines were the first things restored when Shibuya was announced to be rebuilt, for good reason too—they were the largest veins for transportation in Japan, and it was of utmost importance they were saved.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning," Luka replied politely. He saw several people taking tickets, so he took one as well. He then went up to the register and politely ordered a bowl of noodles.

"Thank you very much. We shall be with you in a moment," the employee replied. Luka sat on a nearby stool, and let a nervous breath out. In Akiba, he had the occasional person recognise him, and it weirded him out often in that regard. It was especially weird when foreigners pointed at him and greeted him. He spoke English much better than the others he knew, but it was still remarkably stressful. Shibuya was far enough where people wouldn't recognise him, but at the same time, it gave Luka anxiety about starting a conversation with strangers.

Human interaction was always hard.

"Here's your meal, miss."

"Thank you," Luka replied, not bothering to correct the waiter. His strategy was to ignore these kinds of things; he didn’t want to make a fuss out of something with someone who he barely knew.

Luka looked at his bowl of noodles. It looked good, but it was a pre-prepared meal. Luka felt that given his cooking capabilities, he could do better than this, which was just packaged for mass distribution.

"Hey, miss!"

"Thanks for the meal," Luka said quietly to himself. He raised his pair of chopsticks and began eating his Udon. "Mmm, this meal is quite good."

"Oi!"

The texture of the noodles was surprisingly appealing. A little dry, but supple. Luka had encountered this with processed foods, but it wasn’t as bad as he thought. It didn’t immediately snap, which Luka appreciated. Food seemed to always be overcooked these days—

A hand slammed on the table, knocking a couple of noodles onto Luka's shirt. "Hey! Can't you see I'm talking to you?"

"H-huh?"

“I’m talking to you! You, missus, in the black jacket!” Luka didn't know how to react to the sudden visitor. He was busy admiring food from a noodle shop, and he could already feel some eyes on his back. He looked up, and to his surprise, it was the girl that ran him over in the morning. The same hair, the same clothes, and a now slightly irritated face looking at him, her mouth scrunched up.

Luka put his bowl down and stood up, bowing in apology. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. How can I help you?”

The girl seemed more upset. Did she find his bowing pretentious? "Why do you have Nana's phone?"

"Huh? Oh!" Luka remembered now. He took the phone out of his pocket and showed it to her. "You dropped your phone earlier, so I was trying to look for you, but I couldn’t find you earlier. Oh, I’m so glad I found you!"

"Liar! Phone thief!"

Luka ignored the comment and tried to continue his mission. "Miss Nishijo, correct? Here's your phone."

"Hnn..." The girl took her phone out of Luka's hand, though rather roughly, intentionally bumping her hand into his wrist. "You wanted to steal my phone because it had a cute bulge eyed Gero Froggy on it, huh?!"

"Bulge eyed?"

“None, none of your business, shut up! You thief!”

Luka took a shaky breath in. He didn’t want to get in a fight on his first day at university. He raised his head and tried to look her in the eyes. "Miss Nishijo, I did not steal your phone, I swear! I apologise for the inconvenience, but I meant to return it! Please!" Luka’s voice was starting to take a pleading tone, something that Luka mostly used when he was being confronted.

Miss Nishijo wasn’t putting up with him. She put her arms around her phone and started backing up. “Shut up, phone thief! You’re a jerk!”

Luka wasn’t sure what to do by this point. Luckily, he didn’t have to make that decision; the other patrons at the shop had noticed and were defending Luka for his sake. The world moves on; another day, another drama, he thought. "Hey, you brat! Apologise to her this moment! How dare you accuse her of being a thief!"

"How dare you!"

"Boo!"

"Brat, get out! Ugly, stupid frog!"

People started standing up and supporting Luka, calling Miss Nishijo the fraud. In turn, she seemed to be turning pale, realising the situation in front of her. Luka didn't get a chance to apologise to her, because she ran out of the shop, clutching her phone in her bag and eyeing him with anger.

Luka felt terrible inside, but he had class in half an hour, so he had to continue his lunch. Some people in the noodle shop started coming around and offering to buy Luka lunch, calling her “a pretty girl”. For some reason, he was getting phone numbers from them as well, them saying that “she” could call them if any trouble arose.

But Luka didn’t see himself as a victim. He just felt bad. He caused all this trouble for Nanami Nishijo, and he felt that Miss Nishijo wasn’t a bad person at all, she simply just misunderstood him. But all that he did was make people attack and yell at her for her simply misunderstanding what Luka did.

After a few minutes, Luka felt uncomfortable and decided to leave. He made his way out of the subway and headed back to his university building. It was very unlikely that he was going to run into Miss Nishijo at this point, but he still kept thinking about the bad encounter. It just seemed unfortunate. Regardless, Luka had class to attend right after lunch.

"Hopefully I won't have to see her again..."

——

Luka waited outside the lecture hall, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. After his classes yesterday, he went to visit his friend, Faris's place in Shibuya. He was staying there for the next month, hopefully until he could find housing for himself in Shibuya. Her generosity was much appreciated.

Unfortunately, that also meant that Luka's schedule was the same as Faris's, who got up extremely early to tend to her business in Akihabara and forced Luka to wake up early. Faris apologised for waking him up so many hours before his first class, and while Luka understood, he was still not exactly in his place for proper rest. Standing next to students he didn't know, he looked through his course sheet and double-checked that this was the right class.

"Come in," yelled the professor. "Seats are permanent throughout the year!" She seemed to be an older professor, and Luka felt a degree of hostility come off her. No matter, he'd just pick a random seat in the lecture hall and stay in the back. Without really thinking, Luka grabbed a syllabus from the front table, went to a seat in the back and laid his head down.

"Hey, you're in this class!"

"Huh?" Luka looked up, still trying to rid himself of the fatigue brought from last night, and he saw the person who was sitting to the right of him.

Wait, that was—

"Oh no," Luka said to himself. That was the girl he ran into yesterday.

This year was just getting started.


	2. Chapter 2

Luka sat at his seat, looking through the syllabus. The class didn’t seem to be particularly difficult, but it was very project-oriented. The professor was currently going over the curriculum as well, and he was very enthusiastic about "collaboration" and "cohesion", all while mispronouncing the two English words flamboyantly.

"And remember! There will be a handful of projects for you this year, and partners will be assigned; of course, unless you manage to find your own and come up to me with a request!"

Luka was usually fine with assigned partners in school, but that was mostly because he was used to it, and everyone in his high school had known each other anyway. Luka would often do most of the work if his partner was slacking off.

Luka heard a quiet mutter to the left of him. "Guh..." It seemed that that girl next to him was a bit troubled by this fact. Maybe she didn't really like working with others.

Speaking of her, Luka was a bit tense about how fast she found him out. Her name seemed to be Nanami, if he remembered correctly, but other than that, all she did was stare at him for a bit, and then not pay attention at all. Maybe she had learned her lesson from yesterday about doing things that attracted commotion.

The professor continued talking, and Luka began wondering about whether he should find his own partner. It might be more reliable to have a good one for the rest of the year for work like this, after all.

Who would he even find, though? He didn't know anyone well enough in the class. Looking at the syllabus, some of the projects seemed to take a lot of time and effort, which meant that if he got assigned a partner who didn't want to put in the work at all, he'd be swindled for his grade. The only person who he’d met before was Nanami too, and she seemed to be a bit hostile at the moment.

The professor started going over some course content on human psychology, and Luka diligently took notes. It wasn't a particularly interesting or simple topic, but the professor was good at explaining it, and it was fostering interest in Luka. He himself had heard about the things that Kurisu did in her lab, and though he didn't understand the terminology, he was sure that she was enjoying her work at university.

Kurisu...it still jarred Luka to think that he was now doing what Kurisu had done before him, and yet at such a later age. To go through the same process as a child prodigy before him had done, it made Luka feel like he was in charge of his life. It felt as if it proved that everyone wasn't all that different.

Sitting right next to him, Nanami was also taking notes, but with a more aggressive attitude. Was she annoyed by the fact that he was sitting next to her? Taking a seat somewhere else next time was probably a good decision. He was already a bit distracted by her.

_ Oh wait, seats were permanent… _

"And that wraps up our first day. Of course," the professor continued, "your first project will be assigned in two days! Remember that if you do want to choose your own partners, I suggest you do so soon. Otherwise, class is dismissed!" The professor took his papers and suitcase, while the other students got up. Some were talking to each other, while some were already booking it for the exit. Luka was planning on getting up to leave the room as well, interested in heading to the library or café.

"Hey, Urushibara." Luka looked back. The person he hadn’t wanted to engage in any conversation with was now staring at him. _ Nanami Nishijo. What does she want from me? _ "Can we talk for a bit?"

"Uh, sure," Luka said, hesitant of what she was about to say next. Was she planning on making another scene in the classroom, like yesterday? Surely she knew that was unwise.

"Okay!" She flashed a smile, and she moved her seat closer to Luka. Folding her hands on the table, Nanami’s persona seemed to completely change from yesterday. She pointed to her syllabus. "Do you want to be project buddies for this year?"

"Buddies?"

"Partners, whatever! Do you want to?"

Luka wasn't quite sure what she was up to. Nanami was also putting on a ridiculously cheery voice, like she was in grade school or something.

"Hey, you two! Are you going to just stay in this classroom? Another class is coming in!"

"Professor!" She stood up, gathering her supplies. "We've decided that we're going to be project partners!"

The professor's eyes lit up. "Excellent! Could I get both of your names, please?"

"Nanami Nishijo!"

"Alright. And you, miss, in the black jacket?"

"Uh, Luka Urushibara." He didn't really want to protest further, so he just went along with this. Maybe this was good enough for him. At least he had somewhat of a partner assigned, right?

"Alright! Thank you, you two!"

"No problem!" Luka's now-partner turned to him and flashed a smile, tilting her head. “Any problems?"

Luka shook his head. “No, not at all! Luka Urushibara,” he said, offering his hand.

“Nanami Nishijo, but you can call me Nana," she responded, not seeing the handshake. "It's a pleasure meeting you! Well, I gotta go! See you later!" And with that, she ran out of the classroom with her supplies. Luka couldn’t help but be worried about how haphazard they were in her hands.

“Nana, huh…” Luka put away his own syllabus and papers, and he left the class swiftly, passing by the next professor who had the room. “What a character.”

Luka didn’t have classes for the rest of the morning, so he figured he could visit a tea shop nearby. Surprisingly, it was Daru who recommended it. Being the “favourite right arm” of Okabe, Daru said that one of his own friends visited it often, and it was very relaxing to stay at. It wasn’t popular, but it was quiet, making it a place to check out in Shibuya.

It would be a bit of a walk from here to the teashop, but that was fine. Luka hadn’t been able to really enjoy much of Shibuya’s streets just yet anyway. Walking down the steps, Luka left the campus, noticing two kids running around the block, one holding a flyswatter in his hand and the other wearing a strange mask on his head.

“Come back here! Fall on my sword, foul creature! The enchantments of my Augustian Gladiolus!”

“Stop it! Who are you? Why can’t I see you? Perish, demon!”

“Hahaha!”

_ I wonder what that’s all about… _ If Luka were to guess, those kids were probably roleplaying. Something like what Okabe did. Speaking of Okabe, Luka wondered what he was up to…

Okabe was a mentor to Luka for many years. Older than Luka and Mayuri by two years, the mad scientist with his lab coat was considered the leader of the Future Gadget Laboratory. He used to be incredibly self-conceited though, just fooling around each day with nothing particularly in mind.

However, for some reason that Luka couldn’t quite fathom, Okabe suddenly handed him a lab badge one day, and ever since then, Okabe acted differently. He had more self-resolve and seemed to be really interested in changing the world for the better. He was now more serious, and he didn’t seem to be using that persona for tomfoolery anymore. It was true ambition this time, an aspiration geared towards reality as opposed to his role-play delusions.

What an enchanting person Luka had come to fall in love with. Luka had gotten over his crush on Okabe by then, but that change seemed to only make Luka admire him more. 

And in some way, Okabe’s charm had rubbed off on Luka as well.

Surely, that was why Luka cosplayed for Mayuri all the way back then. And even now, he’d occasionally cosplay when asked to by Mayuri.

“I wonder what Mayuri’s up to now…” Luka stopped at the crossing, waiting for the cars to go by. The air of the city was so different from the peace in the Yanabayashi shrine: people rushing to their destinations, commerce and service all over the place, and a faster pace to go about life. It was unfamiliar territory.

That’s why he had to trudge forward.

Luka arrived at the coffee shop. He gently opened the doors, the chimes above him ringing. “Hello? Anyone here?” Not a person in sight. Luka looked around, confused. According to Daru, there was at least a waitress here, but Luka didn’t see anything of the sort. “Anyone?”

Strange. Well, to no avail. Luka poured himself a glass of water from the counter, and he sat down on the couch. The outside had clearly said this was a teashop, so he didn’t have anything to worry about there. The shop was quiet though; no one else was here, which honestly made sense, given that it was in the middle of the day.

Luka raised the glass of water to his lips, and the liquid went down his throat. He didn’t realise how thirsty he’d been this whole time—perhaps he had been nervous while dealing with Nanami and hadn’t the time to destress from that. Setting the glass down, he took out a mirror from his hand and looked at himself, taking the time to tidy up from how rushed he was this morning.

Luka’s hair got longer over the past two years. Where it used to be above his neck, it was now past his shoulders. He still had a skull pin to fasten his hair, but it was more tedious to comb now. “Maybe I should cut it,” he said to himself. “But I like having long hair…” He tidied his bangs, tucking his hair neatly behind his ears, and moved onto the rest.

Aside from his unkempt hair, his choice of clothing was competent. It was the same black jacket, but he now had a plain white shirt on the inside. His face was not at all well, however. He’d forgotten to do his makeup this morning, which revealed a scar he had on his cheek from cooking. Luka winced upon seeing it.  _ I’ll redo that when I get home… _

Luka finished his self-evaluation, concluding that he could’ve done better in terms of preparation, but he was still competent overall. Despite still being thin and lacking muscle, he didn’t really mind it. He poured himself another glass of water. “It’s really quiet here…”

Why would Daru recommend Luka such a dull place anyway? Well, it might’ve made sense, considering the amount of magazines lying around. In fact, if Luka saw clearly, there seemed to be a few issues with Blood Tune characters on the covers, lying around on the shelf. Was that why Daru had recommended it?

What a pervert.

Luka got ready to leave, having already been here for an hour. The amount of time here had surprised him, but that was possibly the charm of it. Time seemed to just distort in this little space. Right before he could leave his tip on the counter however—

“Hey! It’s Rainet Kakeru! Hey! Someone’s calling you! Hey! It’s Rainet—”

Luka answered the phone. He didn’t expect someone to call him this early into the day. “Hello?”

“Nya! It’s Luka-nya! I’m coming over to Shibuya for lunch, our place! Do you want to join me, nya?”

“Faris!” Luka was glad to hear her. Admittedly, he hadn’t a lot of time to talk to her despite moving in yesterday to her place. They simply exchanged words, and then she had an errand to run. “Sure, I can come home for food. Do you plan on cooking? Or do you have food prepared already?”

“Of course, nya, that’s what we always do! We’ll cook together, nya!”

“That sounds wonderful! I’ll see you soon, then.”

“See nya later!”

Luka hung up and smiled, heading out the store and walking back home. Faris was a wonderful person all around. She ran a maid café in Akihabara, but she was also in charge of the Akihabara territory, having inherited it from her father. She had a unique way of speaking like a cat, but Luka didn’t mind it at all. It was just a part of the peculiar eccentric character you’d find in Akihabara.

In Luka’s memories, cooking with Faris was always the most enjoyable thing that they did together. Out of all the members at the Laboratory, they were the only ones who were actually good (and competent) at cooking, though of course, Luka couldn’t call any of the other lab member’s cooking “bad”.  _ They just…don’t cook often. _ There was Mayuri’s cosplay friend who sometimes joined, but she was currently in Europe.

In terms of cooking, Faris opted for a bit more flash and fire. She seemed to enjoy sweets and chocolate more, which made sense. She ran an entire cat maid café, which meant that their branding had to stand out. Contrarily, Luka was more bread and butter. He preferred to cook simple things that involved less complicated sweets. Of course, he enjoyed baking them too, but he wasn’t too concentrated on style.

“I think it’s here…” Luka stood at the crossing, waiting. “Wait, huh?”

Luka noticed someone standing across the bustling street. If he wasn’t mistaken…

“Ehh?!”

There was Nanami, with her handbag and phone, currently loudly talking to somebody. She sounded irritated. About what in particular, Luka had no clue.

The light turned green, and Luka tried to act normal, ignoring Nanami entirely. He couldn’t help but listen to the passing conversation she was having on the phone.

“I told you, I didn’t force her! Jeez bro, give me a break. What? I’m not whining, you idiot! Stop saying that I am!”

_ That was…strange. _ Luka didn’t say anything, and he simply continued walking forth. It wasn’t surprising that Nanami got into those sorts of talks considering his encounters, so maybe she was just someone who got into fights a lot. In any case, that probably didn’t mean much for Luka.

“Sir Urushibara!”

Luka looked back, surprised to hear his name. But when he saw the car and butler next to it, he relaxed, knowing who it was. “Mr Kuroki! What are you doing here?”

“Mistress told me to pick you up if I saw you. She’s currently waiting in the kitchen.”

“I see. I shouldn’t be late then. I’ll contact Faris then. Thank you, Mr Kuroki.”

“No problem.”


	3. Chapter 3

Luka opened the door to his flat and deposited his shoes by the front door. "I'm back," he announced.

A voice rang out from the kitchen area. "Nya, welcome home!" Luka put his jacket away, and he saw the catgirl already getting started with their lunch. "I've got some rice cooking nya-lready. What do you plan on making, nya?"

Faris was already busying herself around the kitchen, with her apron on and sleeves rolled up. She seemed to be in some sort of business attire, which she hadn't the time to get out of yet. 

"I don't know, honestly. I thought I'd have an idea by now, Faris, but I just couldn't come up with anything. I was hoping you'd decide on this one," Luka responded.

It wasn't often, but that was one of the downsides to making lunch with your friends. What to make? When Luka went to any fast-food chain, there weren't many options. In a kitchen though, the variety and options were too diverse. Usually, when he made food with friends, he would be baking some sort of cake or pastry, but he couldn't do that for lunch.

"Hmm...! What if we did some stir fry?" Faris replied. "Here, nya, you should go and start getting some of the vegetables, I'll ready the pan."

"Sounds fine to me," Luka said. "Where are the aprons?"

"Closet, nya!" Faris replied. Luka went over to the closet, and he fetched an apron out, tying it around his back with ease. The motions were so familiar that it felt as simple as turning his wrist. The apron had tiny little cats printed all over it, and Luka smiled upon seeing them. "Nya, are you coming or what?"

"Yes, Faris!" Luka headed over and washed his hands at the sink. That was the first rule to cooking, as his sister had taught him. He then went to the fridge to pick out his ingredients. "What vegetables?"

"Whatever you want, nya!"

Luka took out a few groceries from the fridge, leaving them out on the counter. Taking a cutting board and a knife, he started with the bell peppers, red and fresh. He pressed the knife down firmly yet with control. He could hear the clean sounds of the knife hitting the wood of the board. Separating the cut portions from the pepper itself, he deposited the pepper slices into a bowl that Faris had left out.

While Luka was cutting, Faris herself had gotten out a slice of beef and was roasting it over the stove, the sound of the fans inhaling the steam coming out. "Hey, Luka! How was today?"

"Good! Classes were fine! You?" Faris's cooking was getting a bit loud, so Luka had to yell over the fans while doing the vegetables. Incidentally, Luka wasn't good at yelling.

Luckily, it seemed like Faris heard him. "Good! I've been looking into raising attention for the otaku community in Akiba, but I don't think some of our partners are happy about it! I'm just hoping that we don't screw up anything!"

Faris Nyannyan, real name Rumiho Akiha, was secretly the land baron for Akihabara, owning the land and in charge of it. At the same time, however, she ran a maid café up until this point, and she had been in high school up until now. According to Faris, she didn't feel that it was worth going to college anymore. Akihabara was her life. She had to take up the responsibility her father gave her.

Due to her and Luka's link to Akihabara, he knew her real identity before many of the other lab members. Her father and his father were friends, as well as commonly collaborating. Luka, of course, was fully supportive of Faris the whole way.

"Hey, Luka! Have you finished?"

"Yep!" Luka lifted his bowl of vegetables, and he headed to the stove to deposit them in his pan. The vegetables sizzled and simmered in the oil, with crackles and pops coming from the pepper in particular. The scent was already pouring into Luka's nose, and he was enjoying it a lot. He tossed the pan a bit, making sure that all the vegetables were being cooked thoroughly.

Faris finished before Luka, turning the heat off and putting her roast beef onto a plate. "That's for meat! I'll get the rice and sauce out, and then after that, we should be all good!"

Luka nodded. Looking at his pan, he gave it one final stir. He poured it all out into a bowl, making sure that no liquids leaked while pouring. After he finished, he deposited his pan in the sink and took his bowl to the dining table. Faris followed, taking her rice and meat from the kitchen.

She poured the vegetables over the rice and meat cutlets and added her sauce over the mix. The liquid dripped over the various components. "Looks good," Faris remarked. She grabbed two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks from the cupboards. Opening and she served the two of them at the dinner table. "Here's yours."

"Thanks." Luka sat down, as did Faris. "Thanks for the food."

"Thanks for the food."

The two dug in, and Faris was immediately taken away with how good the food was. She was audibly moaning at the flavours in her mouth.

"Mmm! You're really good, Luka! How do you nail the timing like that, not overcooking any of it?" Faris took a piece of asparagus with her hand, and she bit into it. "Mmm, that's really juicy!"

Luka blushed. "It's nothing. It's habitual at this point."

"Looks like I have a lot to learn, nya..." 

"Y-you did well too! The beef tastes really good!" That was Luka being honest. He didn't have a way over meats, for some reason. Whenever he tried to cook steaks, they always ended up too undercooked.

"Thanks, nya!" Faris flashed a grin. "Mmm, it's delicious."

"Mmm," Luka agreed.

"So," Faris started, "how has college been? Made any friends yet?"

"Not yet," Luka said. "I had a nasty run-in with a girl the other day though."

"Yikes," Faris cringed. "That sounds bad, nya! Did you show her your Glowing Emerald Saber, only for her to perish it to dust with her evil witchèdly powers of Meedhupparu, nya!?"

"No. She crashed into me in the morning, and then accused me of stealing her phone when I tried to return it to her."

"Oh." Faris's surprise did put Luka off a bit. What, did Faris think that Nanami was a witch from Meedhupparu? The namesake was literally "made-up land", so surely Faris was making things up...

Luka ignored that train of thought, and he instead continued talking about Nanami. "I swear, Miss Nishijo is so inconsistent. Yesterday, she accused me of being a thief, and then this morning, she coerced me into being her partner. I can't read her at all..."

Faris's eyes went wide. "Her partner in crime? Or love? Surely Lukanyan isn't going into a political marriage so soon, nya?! An alliance between Shibunya and Akinyabara would be most frightful for the rest of Tokyo, nya!"

"Oh, sorry. I meant project partners for human psychology. Our professor is giving out a project on Thursday."

"Ah. Nya. Well, who knows," Faris chuckled, with an elusive smile like a Cheshire Cat on her face, "perhaps you'll be involved in a political marriage one day like that, nya..."

"Faris?!"

"The day when Akihabara falls to the Smoke of Targyargan, fateful to only the two masters of the Olau League! Those fiendish thieves, who wish to rule Japan in their own rite, but that will not be allowed, nya!"

Honestly, Luka forgot how things went when either Faris or Okabe went into their hyper delusional modes. Usually, Luka was willing to play along for immersion, but sometimes the scenarios were just...too out there for him to participate in. "Too advanced for his merely mortal brain," some might say.

"So!" Faris leaned in, her arms propped against the table surface, wrists holding her chin. "Do you like her, nya?"

"Not at all," Luka sighed.

"Do you want to be friends with her?"

"Of course not...she's unpleasant, and I don't enjoy being hurdled around like that..."

"That's a lie, nya!"

"What?! It's not a lie! I don't enjoy her company!" Luka insisted.

"You want to be friends with her, I can tell it. Hehe, nya, I see you've got a long road ahead of you, False Princess of Yanabashi. Nya, no matter!"

When had False Princess of Yanabashi become Luka's epigraph? More importantly, what was Faris on about?

"In any case! I have my business to tend to. My people call me, for I must face off the dark and arduous Committee of Seven!"

"So that's what you plan on calling those companies..." Luka knew them simply as the seven corporations who were planning to set up shop locally in the next quarter. Faris had already elevated their importance with such a heavy name.

"N-nya, no matter!" Faris grabbed her now empty plate and moved it towards the dishwasher. "I shall fend off their advances; only until they concede will I declare my victory!" She walked towards her bedroom. "But for now! I must strip my pride and clothes, only to return as the bringer of light! Disturb me not, Luka, nya!"

Luka's cheeks reddened. Whatever Faris was doing in there, it didn't matter to him, and he didn't want to particularly find out either, considering how much meowing was going on in there. Luka deposited his dishes in the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, and took his jacket from the closet.

"I-I'm leaving now!" Faris didn't seem to hear him, only continuing to meow inside her room. Luka quickly left, closing the door behind him and heading down the stairs.

Hopefully, there would be less audible meowing once he returned.

——

"So many clothes..." Luka looked around, tense. There weren't a lot of people in this section of the mall, but Luka could never be too sure.

Luka usually didn't go out shopping for clothes; in reality, most of the clothes he had ever gotten were either forced from his father and sister, or just gifts. Luka didn't have anything to do though, so he decided that shopping for clothes might be a worthy investment. He didn't bring a lot of clothes from home, so he needed to buy some clothes here. Faris lent him her own money, but Luka fully intended to pay her back someday.

In any case, he was walking on the path, but not going into any section in particular. He already knew what clothes he should be looking at, but the anxiety was overruling that, telling him to go to the men's section instead.

"Huh, this skirt doesn't fit..."

Luka turned around, and he froze. His luck was bad enough, but he didn't expect it to be that bad.

There was that girl again. Nanami Nishijo. And by the looks of it—

Luka immediately turned away, his head recoiling from the embarrassing scene he just witnessed. His face burned with embarrassment, as he tried to act like nothing had happened, putting up his hood to hide his face.

But he'd seen it. Nanami was currently wearing a...very short skirt. It was scandalously short. Her top was unchanged from what she had on at noon; still a blue jacket over a purple shirt. But her legs were revealing to the point where it was terrifying.

"She may as well have not been wearing any trousers at all," Luka muttered. He wasn't wrong; she wasn't wearing any trousers, she was wearing a skirt.

But why, on God's earth, did people invent skirts so short?

Luka remembered when he had tried to wear such a short skirt, much to his displeasure at the time. Naturally, it was his sister who insisted, and she had been very satisfied with the result, calling Luka "adorable" and "cute".

But Luka wasn't happy at all with that decision. It made him physically uncomfortable, not to mention so revealingly. This was why despite wearing such effeminate clothing, Luka refused to wear skirts. He was fine with shoulders—they weren't intimate body parts—but skirts were almost too revealing.

"Maybe I should leave..." Luka whispered. "I'll come back another day, yeah. Surely she won't be here again on the same day." He started moving away from the clothing store and instead toward the open part of the mall. If he could be stealthy enough, surely with the hood on, she wouldn't recognise him—

"Oh! Luka, I didn't expect to see you here!"

Uh oh.

"O-oh, hey! Nanami! You're here too?" Luka nervously laughed, all while trying to compose himself and not internally combust at the sight of a mere woman's thighs. This wasn't natural. People were fine with such revealing clothing nowadays, nobody cared. He shouldn't be this panicked. Besides, she thought he was a girl, so this was completely fine.

"What are you doing here? This is the women's section, you know."

"H-huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're a boy, right?"

...

For some reason, that fact caused Luka's anxiety to be thrown out the window, replaced by pure confusion. "Wait, you think I'm a boy?"

Nanami's eyes went wide. "No, have I got it wrong? I'm so sorry! Oh my god, I'm so sorry for doing that to you! I didn't mean you look ugly, I swear!"

"No, I mean—"

"I just, I thought you looked like a boy, I thought I figured it all out...I know I shouldn't go around assuming genders and everything, but..." Nanami was looking around, floundering.

Luka's confusion continued. "I am a boy though," he explained, not quite understanding what Nanami was on about.

"Oh." Nanami blinked. "Wait, then why were you so surprised?"

"Well, many people assume I'm female, but I didn't expect you to be so perceptive..." Luka had yet to run into someone who didn't think he was a girl.

"Well, you know, I thought it was obvious. You were a boy."

"Obvious? Even with the blouse?"

"Well," Nanami fumbled, "of course that detail was a bit off, but I figured it out during class this morning."

"Wait, you figured it out?"

"An hour is a lot of time to observe people next to you..." Nanami muttered. Luka now wasn't sure whether to be offended or not.

But somehow, this was assuring. Unlike everyone else, who decided to play the gender-guessing game with him, Nanami was perceptive of his gender, and she was acting normally. Luka was very grateful that he didn't have to magically reveal his gender to her. Anytime that happened, it always ended up in misunderstandings or horrible events.

"Anyway, what are you doing here in this section?"

Luka pondered, his fist against his chin. Whatever hesitance had been there before, he had now completely forgotten. "I was planning to buy clothes."

"Yeah, I got that, but why here?"

"Well..." Luka then realised that he had to explain that he wore women's clothing, and how much of a pickle that was.

Maybe it wasn't so lucky that Nanami knew he was male since now he had to deal with this awkward explanation.

"Um..."

"Um?" Nanami seemed sceptical, and she eyed Luka with disgust. "Luka, surely you aren't that kind of creep who spies on girls in the changing rooms..."

"A-absolutely not!" Luka crossed his hands in an X shape, and he started stepping back. "I could never imagine doing that!"

Nanami pressed on. "Are you sure?" She stepped forward, and Luka was extremely aware of how close she was getting. Whether her plan was seduction or murder, he had no idea.

"I came here to buy clothes, not to degrade my moral compass! Why are you making this so difficult?!"

"Because sometimes," Nanami said darkly, "we end up degrading our moral compasses by blinding ourselves with delusions rather than seeing clearly with delusions."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Nanami said quickly. "You still haven't explained why you're here!"

This was going to get messy. Luka was running out of time to deflect, and Nanami was probably going to end up thinking he was a creep. "I have a choice over what I dress, right?" Luka pleaded, hoping that Nanami would get what he meant without him having to say the words out loud.

"A choice over what you dress? But why—" Nanami paused, her eyes blinking slowly. "Oh. I see."

"Please don't judge me over how I dress, this has been a trying day already so far..." Luka was about to cry if this continued any longer.

Nanami stood there silent, not saying anything. It was a strange scene to behold: Luka, trying not to let his tears flow out, and Nanami, staring at the floor, both saying nothing, and in the clothing section.

"...hey, Luka."

"Y-yeah?" At this point, Luka needed a handkerchief.

"Do you want to go pick some clothes out?"

"Is this a trap?" Luka couldn't tell anymore what Nanami's thought process was. Accused him of stealing his phone, coerced him into being her project partner, pressured him about being in the women's clothing section...

"It's not," Nanami said softly. "Come on." She reached out with her hand open, and she smiled at Luka. "I promise I'll be nicer this time around."

Luka sniffled, and he took her hand. He believed her. Even if she was so terrible, Luka felt like Nanami was being genuine this time, and Faris had been right. He did want to make friends with Nanami, even after all that she had done to upset him.

"Please don't bully me around."

"Nonsense!" Nanami laughed, and for the first time in a long time, Luka felt the anxiety melt away in his heart. This was okay. Hearing that laughter temporarily eased the suffering he had gone through in these past two days.

"After all, we're buddies, right?"


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you're from Akihabara?"

Luka nodded, trying to keep his emotions in control. "Yeah, Akiba."

" I think my brother has a friend or two that live there..." Nanami said, somewhat to herself. "Must be cool."

The two were sitting on one of the benches near the shoes section, waiting for Luka to somewhat recover from his breakdown. Luka was grateful for Nanami being so patient with him; it had been frustrating to feel his anxiety overtake himself like that. Though, the sight of two college freshmen getting emotional while sitting in the clothing section of a mall was...

"What about you? Where do you live?"

"Me? I live in Shimokitazawa, but Shibuya's my real home. I’ve always been here." Nanami shook her arm, which Luka discovered had a cheap, golden plastic bracelet around it. "It's hard to get away from my parents like that though, huh..."

"Do you live with your parents?" Luka asked.

"Mhm..." Nanami seemed displeased with that fact, muttering several profanities under her breath. "My brother lives in Shibuya now, but I'm still stuck at the house. I can't find any good places in Shibuya; the housing is so tight, could you believe it?"

Luka nodded, remembering his own experience with finding a house here. There wasn't anything reasonable in terms of prices, and the only realistic option was to live in Faris's apartment she rented in Shibuya. Luka felt guilty living there—it was a suite that took up an entire floor, after all—but he had to make do with it. He promised Faris that he would pay her back one day, even if Faris said that he shouldn't worry about it.

Nanami stood up, sighing frustratedly. Was she sick of Luka’s emotional outburst? He hoped not, since he really didn’t want to cause any more trouble with her. Then, with no transition at all, Nanami’s face suddenly brightened. "Wanna go shopping?"

"Yes please," Luka replied. Now that he was more composed, he felt at ease. He didn't have to worry about any gender surprises, and this was just Nanami going shopping with him.

Well, assuming Nanami was being genuine.

"Ooh! I saw a really nice purple cardigan over there. Maybe we can start there." Without really warning Luka, Nanami started walking over there. Caught off guard, Luka got off the benches and tried his best to catch up with her. "Come on! Hurry up!"

"You surprised me..." Luka complained.

"Jeez," Nanami said. "I got excited, okay? But here, look at this top!" It was a plaid purple cardigan, with little blue buttons lining the edges. Nanami took off her jacket, discarding it on the floor, and put on the cardigan immediately. The cardigan was tight, meaning that it was too small to wear buttoned. "It looks good, doesn't it?"

"Hmm." Luka thought the cardigan itself looked nice on Nanami, but it didn't pair too well with the purple shirt inside. The colours were too similar. "Maybe not with the shirt you have right now. Are there any other shirts around here?"

"Some over there," Nanami said, pointing behind her. "What do you have in mind?"

"Maybe striped..." Luka muttered. He didn't have a lot of experience with fashion, but he had his resolve. He searched through the clothing racks, and he noticed a white shirt, with thin black stripes going across the surface. This seemed like what he wanted.

_Or is it a black shirt with white stripes...?_ _Wait, is there any difference between the two?_ Disregarding his momentary paradox, Luka took the shirt off the hanger and handed it to Nanami. "Here. Try this one."

"Hmm." Nanami held the shirt in front of her chest, looking at the mirror across from her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Luka said. "I'm sure. That pair with the cardigan definitely works."

"Hmm..." Nanami took the shirt into the changing stall, and after a few minutes, she emerged wearing the shirt, with her new cardigan on top. "Like this?"

"It looks sharp," Luka remarked. "Don't you think?"

The contrast between the stripes and the plaid was really what sold it for Luka. With one consistent colour on top, while having alternating colours beneath that, it made her outfit distinguish its parts without blending together ambiguously.

"Whoa," Nanami said, her eyebrows raised. "You're really good at fashion, dude! "

"That's assuring to hear," Luka said, relieved. In all honesty, Luka thought Nanami was going to beat him if it turned out looking bad. Of course, he could probably defend himself, but who knew…

"Now then, time to get clothes for you!" Nanami started heading somewhere else in the section, but that only confused Luka.

"Wait, you're only buying a top?"

"We’re buying more later, of course! But," she said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "we've got someone else special to take care of, no?"

Luka and Nanami navigated around the clothing shop, picking out clothes for Luka’s first outfit. Luka didn’t really know what Nanami was picking out, but he trusted her sense of fashion for the most part. After a few minutes, Nanami shoved Luka into a changing stall and declared her work finished. “It’s your time for dressing up, boy!”

Luka wasn’t exactly the most comfortable with how aggressive Nanami was, but he had to roll along with it. He didn’t exactly want to upset her. So now, he was putting on that outfit.

"Hey, Luka, did you finish the homework in class yesterday?"

"Yeah, finished it last night."

"Damn..." Luka heard Nanami cussing from outside. "I still haven't finished mine..."

He wasn't exactly the keenest on it, but he wasn't the boy from two years ago who had too much pride to lose. Back then, he might've refused the prospect of changing his outfit at all to something more revealing.  _ What a pussy I was back then, _ Luka thought. Even though he didn’t like using the word (so vulgar), it was the most accurate description he could think of. But now, he was willing to risk it. He was willing to adjust to a new way, even if he felt uncomfortable about it.

Of course, Luka still had no idea how he'd look, with Nanami's choice of clothing, but he had to have faith, right?

"Luka, are you coming out yet?"

"I already did a year ago..." It was true. Finally, after months of agonising, he'd revealed that he was bisexual to the lab, having had a crush on Okabe beforehand. Yet for some reason, Okabe seemed to have known all along.  _ I'm more surprised that you chose to reveal that at all _ , he remarked. In any case, everyone was completely fine with the news. But why was Nanami asking about that?

"Wait, what? No, I mean, are you finished changing clothes?"

"Oh!" Luka's face flushed. "Yes, soon!"

He heard Nanami muttering to herself. “You fucking idiot…”

He really should've been paying attention. Hurrying up to put on his shoes, Luka opened the door to the changing room. Stepping out with his new outfit on, he found Nanami to be eying a pair of gloves hanging on a stand.

"Hmm..." Nanami looked like she was considering buying them, with her hand on her chin.

"Hey, Nanami." Luka poked her shoulder. "I'm over here."

"Oh, you're done?" She turned towards Luka. "Whoa. Hold on, whoa."

Nanami immediately started stepping backwards, and she seemed to be at a loss of words. "Um. Uh."

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing! Haha! I just...need a moment, okay?" Nanami immediately ducked behind a clothing stand, hiding from Luka.

"Alright," Luka said. He wasn't too sure why Nanami was so speechless. Was it bad? Was it good? He turned to the mirror nearby, and he checked himself, seeing the eyes which simply stared back at him.

Whoa.

Nanami's choice of clothing was really good. She'd put together a blue cold shoulder top, with frills around the chest and waist. While he hadn't been sure of the choice of clothing before, now that he saw it on his own body, it was convincing. It was as if waves rippled across his body, resonating with each other. And on the bottom, Nanami had...

Yeah. Those were jean shorts. Jorts. And they looked surprisingly good on Luka.

Luka could hear muttering again from Nanami. “Why are his thighs thicker than mine? This is impossible…”

"Uh, yes!" She popped her head out of the clothing stand rather clumsily and smiled uneasily. "Coming!"

That was most certainly a fake smile.

“Wow, you look really…good…looking…” Nanami tried to say the words out loud, but Luka could tell she was not at all pleased with saying them. And soon enough, he was right, as Nanami exploded into jealousy. “Ugh, I can’t do this anymore! Why are you cuter than me, you fucking boy!? This is stupid!”

Luka felt a bit hurt by the words, especially Nanami’s crass language, but he didn’t make note of it. “It’s okay, Nanami…”

“Ugh, you stupid idiot! Go die eating panties for breakfast, idiot! Bye!” Nanami went into the changing room, and soon enough, Luka could hear banging on the walls, probably Nanami’s head trying to shake the jealousy out.

Luka felt bad for Nanami. He remembered in late August, when Kurisu was about to head back to America, and how her discovery of Luka's gender had left her so distraught. The reaction was similar, and Luka had spent the whole night trying to reassure Kurisu her body was fine, with little success.

In this case, Luka felt that Nanami didn’t really deserve this jealousy, so he tried to calm her down. "Hey, Nanami, were you interested in those gloves?"

"…Huh? Oh, yes! Yeah!" Nanami’s mood seemed to suddenly change, and she immediately headed out of the changing room, her shoulders relaxed and herself seeming more at ease. "Gloves?"

"I mean, try them on."

"Oh yeah, I wanted to try these out." Nanami slotted the gloves on while continuing to talk. "I've never really used gloves before, as a matter of fact, but they look so cute! Come on!"

"Huh. They look...classy." Her hands were wearing long black satin gloves, with some flower embroidery on them. They weren't transparent, so Luka couldn't see anything through them. "But are you sure you want them?"

In Luka's opinion, the gloves didn't exactly fit Nanami's look. From what he could tell, she was a very casual person who liked to look cute and fun. Being decorative and formal didn't seem to be her style, so why she chose such long gloves, let alone such detail, didn't quite compute in Luka's mind.

Yet the answer he got didn't explain much at all. "Of course! I think they're a perfect fit! What, you don’t think so?"

Considering Nanami's eye for fashion, which Luka felt was evident for the outfit she chose for him, this didn't make much sense. But Luka didn't have it in his heart to tell Nanami no. If she liked it, she liked it. Besides, she probably had her own idea.

"No, I think it’s perfectly fine!" Luka said. "Do you want to keep going?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Nanami started skipping down the aisle. Luka was just about to head out too, but then he remembered his old clothes were still in the changing room. He was currently wearing the clothes that he was supposed to buy.

Ah.

"Nanami, wait! We haven't changed back!"

"Huh?" She turned back, looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"We have to...change out of these clothes..."

Nanami blinked, and then laughed awkwardly. "Oh, right!" She continued to laugh awkwardly, entering the changing room. "Yep! I'll uh, see you soon!"

"Haha, yeah!" Luka said, without much confidence. "Yeah."

—

Luka and Nanami exited the clothing store. They had gone and tried many other outfits, and Nanami suggested that they purchase them all, despite Luka’s protests about them being too expensive. Now, they had their bought clothes in their shopping bags, as well as some...questionable new items Nanami snagged for Luka at the last minute. They walked out into the shopping centre's open area.

"Wow...I didn't know they added a fountain here this summer."

"Yeah?" Luka was busy hiding his face behind a handbag, his cheeks burning hot with shame. "That's nice to hear..."

Nanami turned to him. "What, are you still weirded out by me buying those panties?"

"P-please stop..."

While Luka and Nanami were at the cashier section, Nanami had decided to suggest that they get a surprise item of her own choice, as a gift to Luka. She ended up revealing that they were panties once they left the cashier, and Luka started protesting profusely, with no result.

As it turned out, Nanami's brain was thicker than he initially believed...

"Come on! You wear women's clothing! What's wrong with women’s underwear?"

"That's not..."  _ That wasn't how anatomy worked, you stupid woman _ , Luka wanted to say. But he didn't want to raise more questions being asked. "Fine, I'll take it..."

"What, do you have too many panties at home? Pervert! I bet you imagine they’re my panties, don’t you, and then you—"

"Absolutely not, let’s not go there  _ at all _ ..." Luka said, unable to look Nanami in the eye. He would ditch her right there and then, if not for the fact that Nanami had some of his clothes in her bag. He was stuck with her for now.

"Damn!" Nanami crossed her arms, looking up. "It's so tall!"

"...Huh?"

"The shopping centre! I didn't think they would go for something like this, especially with the earthquake three years ago."

"The earthquake..." Luka looked up, the panties controversy fading away in his mind, as he recalled what Nanami was talking about.

That's right. The Shibuya earthquake in 2009. It had been all over the news that day, and it was a disaster in Tokyo. Many people had lost their homes and loved ones to the earthquake, while major corporate buildings were destroyed. Some people had speculated that Shibuya would eventually decay as a centre of commerce, replaced by another district entirely.

And yet, Shibuya persisted. People stayed in Shibuya despite the place being uninhabitable, and they helped to rebuild the city. Now, even with some regions still dedicated to helping out the homeless, Shibuya was slowly returning to its glorious state, and also was becoming a new beacon of hope. "Together, we can rebuild Shibuya," they had said.

It was a remarkable thing to see. This shopping centre was one of the products of the rebuilding project; offering a place for many of the shops that had lost their territory, and also providing a building of public service. Many of the rebuilding project's efforts were centred around this shopping centre, as Luka had been told by his sister. "It's remarkable, isn't it? So many people are coming together to rebuild the place they love."

Luka agreed with that statement in general. It was a beautiful testament to the nature of humanity, and that should be the nature of the good in humans.

"2009 November 7th, 10:46pm..." Nanami muttered to herself. "That's when Taku..." She seemed to be off in her own world, still walking forward. Her eyes went hazy, likely remembering that night, failing to see the shopping centre she was in. It must've been terrifying for a schoolgirl to witness the earthquake so dangerous and scary like that.

"Nanami? You alright?"

"Huh? Yeah!" Nanami turned towards Luka, smiling. "I'm fine!"

And yet for some reason, Luka saw the pain in her eyes. Those weren’t eyes that were fine.

Luka nodded. "Alright." He looked at his bag, still thinking about his own clothes. "Hey, Nanami, we should probably sort our bags out."

"Huh, that's a good idea!" Nanami pointed at an open cafe, with several open tables and chairs. "Let's sit over there!"

Luka and Nanami walked down the paved area in the middle of the open area, and Luka took this time to properly appreciate the vastness of the shopping centre. They were on the second floor and walking over the bridges which hovered over the bottom floor. With glass balconies and metal poles, it felt just like the modern style Shibuya was now going for. The fountain Nanami talked about continued to emit water, with the ceiling lights shining through, forming a brief rainbow as mist rose from the base. To Luka, this was what Shibuya entailed.

This was the Shibuya he had come for, and he felt confident about his decision to go here. Even if it was different from everyone else, it was exactly what he wanted.

Nanami, meanwhile, had gone back to that previous state; instead of skipping around happily, she seemed to be deep in thought about something. But Luka didn't know what she was thinking about. Was it the earthquake? Had she lost family then? She didn't seem like someone who would have any burdens to worry about to Luka, but what did he know that she didn't?

"Hey, Nanami," Luka said, sitting down at the table that they had found. He set his bags down and folded his arms on the table surface. "What's on your mind?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing! Just uh, family matters," Nanami explained.

“Does it have something to do with the earthquake?”

“Y-yeah, you could say that I guess…” Nanami didn’t look at Luka, not quite smiling. “Look, can we not talk about this?”

“That’s fine,” Luka said. He knew how that felt. There were always things that people didn’t feel comfortable talking about, and he didn’t want to overstep his boundaries.

Besides, he barely knew anything about her. She dragged him along for this, so what was the point?

"Hey, here's your clothes."

"Oh, thank you!" Nanami took some of the items out from her bag as well. "Here's yours," she said, handing them over. "Your clothes are really too good for you, you cute boy, hmph..."

"N-Not at all!" Luka said, remaining humble. "Besides, I think you fit your clothes quite well too."

“You’re just saying that, be real.” Nanami said. “Hey, do you want to exchange numbers?”

“N-numbers?”

“For the project,” Nanami said. “Duh. Come on, let me enter my number into your phone.” She took out Luka’s phone and dialled her own number. She then pressed the call button. Nanami’s handbag started vibrating, a rather cheery polyphonic melody playing out. She took her own phone out, which still had the Gero Froggy hanging from it. “There!”

“Alright...thanks,” Luka said, not quite sure what just happened. He eyed Nanami quietly as she put away the phone. She was right to exchange phone numbers, but her actions still seemed too spontaneous. Why now?

“Oh, here!” She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of perfume. She handed it to Luka, and said, “This is for you.”

“Huh? Oh, I really don’t need—”

“Take it! It’s girl perfume, but that’s probably what you want anyway, right?”

Luka took the perfume bottle over and examined it. Just like Nanami said, it was for women. He pressed down on the bottle, wondering what the scent would be like.

It was a light lemony smell. Slightly tangy, but still refreshing and cool nonetheless, like a drink of lemonade on a hot summer day, with the cicadas buzzing in the trees. “Wow, this is…”

“Told you it was good, hmph.” Nanami crossed her arms.

“But Nanami, this really isn’t necessary—”

“Look, I’m sorry for calling you a pervert. This is an apology! Take it already!” She shoved the perfume into Luka’s bag before she grabbed her own bag and stood up. “God, you’re so dumb! Bye!”

And like that, Nanami stormed off. Luka didn’t really want to stay with her, but considering the gift that she  _ really _ didn’t have to get him, he had to thank her at the very least.

Luka stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Nanami!” She didn’t turn around. “Thank you for the gift!” Still no response.

Then, when Luka thought he was completely ignored, a vibration went off in his pocket. Luka took out his phone and discovered a new message from an unknown sender.

_ You’re welcome, you girly idiot. _

Luka shook his head, still annoyed at her. “What a prick,” he muttered, not really caring that he had just sworn.

Oh well. So be it.


	5. Chapter 5

Luka turned on the shower, and he breathed outward as the hot water started raining down. "That's soothing," he said.

As he began to wash, he recalled the happenings of this week so far. It was very dreary so far. Yesterday, he had made his way back home after shopping with Nanami, and that itself was rather lonely. He had taken a quick detour to the laundromat to wash and dry his clothes there, which caused him to come home quite late. After getting back, he had some food that was leftover from lunch. He completed his homework at his desk and also studied for the first quiz in INV 101, which the professor had said was on Thursday, meaning tomorrow.

There hadn’t been anything eventful today, other than a student yelling in a bout of rage about the mathematics assignment they were getting so early on.

Faris was staying at Akihabara tonight, so he had the whole place to himself. It was lonely, having such a large suite for just him, but he was alright with that. Besides, it meant that he didn't have to hear whatever was going on in Faris's room.

He shuddered at the thought of entering her room and finding out whatever she did in there...even if he was curious, he did not want to go in there.

As Luka took the shampoo and poured it over his hair, scrubbing it to every inch, he wondered about how Mayuri was doing. The first week wasn't even over, but he was already feeling a bit stressed—if he was feeling that way, surely Mayuri was also adjusting to it.  _ Of course, she's probably taking it in stride. She's always been better than me in that regard, _ he thought to himself. Mayuri was extremely intelligent, even if she seemed a bit naive sometimes.

Rinsing off the soap bubbles on his body, Luka shut off the shower, and he emerged from the shower stall, his body dripping wet. Taking the towel hanging from the wall, he dried his body before wrapping the towel around his waist, heading to the sink. "Is the hairdryer attached to the wall?" he said out loud. "This is luxury for an apartment..."

How was Luka supposed to pay Faris back for such a luxurious gift?

As he stared into the mirror, all he could focus on was his hair. "It's really gone longer now, seeing it in this mirror. Should I get a haircut soon?" Maybe when he had inspected it in the tea shop that day, the lighting wasn't too good. His hair definitely needed some sort of change at this point.

What was the best option though? Luka wondered,  _ Should I cut it short and finally get a boyish haircut, with the sides shaved off? Wear a beanie? Shave it clean? _

Luka felt his hair with both hands. "Not shaving it." It was the hair that he wanted to keep, which was strange, considering that everywhere else was clean-shaven. He didn't grow much facial hair, to begin with, but he still shaved it off. And in March, he had gotten his armpits waxed, just because he didn't feel comfortable having hair there.

After turning off the hairdryer, Luka stepped out of the bathroom, his towel still hanging around his waist. He took his pyjamas off the rack in the large closet across his bed and changed into them. These pyjamas were pure black, with no colouration on them whatsoever. It was a colour that Luka liked, so what was there for him to mind?

As Luka buttoned his nightshirt, hiding his bare chest, the bag of clothes lying by his desk caught his eyes.  _ That's right, _ he remembered,  _ I bought a whole new set of clothes yesterday. I should probably get them into the closet. _ He’d forgotten yesterday, considering how late he came home, but today would probably allow him to do that. He picked up the bag of clothes, and he laid them out on his bedsheets, one by one. Looking at the choices made...

They were really nice clothes, weren't they?

There was the shirt with frills that Nanami had first bought for him, as well as the jean shorts. But other than those, Luka had his eye on a few other options as well. For example, a red flower print T-shirt was now folded on his bed, and next to it was a black sweater, with a rather wide collar. He had wanted to buy another black jacket, but Nanami advised against it, saying that it was redundant. "It's like people—family is always reliable, even if they get old after a while," she explained.

Then again, this was the same Nanami that had bought him pink panties, which were still sitting on Luka's bed rather awkwardly. Luka looked around as if hoping no one was there to watch him, and he quietly hid the panties in his desk drawer.

There. No one would discover.

With all the clothes laid out, Luka started hanging them on the rack, taking the hangers into his hand and sliding the garments on with ease. He was used to organising clothes, and he never left his clothes untidy. But at the same time, Luka hadn't owned so many of them like this before. Usually, it was all one variety—

_ When I cross the grief-stricken river, the frozen sight across is violet after all... _

"Huh?" Luka looked back, and he discovered that his phone was vibrating, still in his trousers' back pocket. "Who could be calling at this hour, huh..." It was nearing midnight, after all, so whoever called must have been still up and awake...

Taking the phone out of his pocket, he looked at the caller ID, before taking a step back, startled. "Mayuri?! Why is she calling so late?" He answered, pressing the phone to his ear. "Hello, this is Urushibara?"

"Luka!" Mayuri's sweet voice came from the phone's speaker, and Luka felt relieved hearing her again. It had been quite a while since he'd last seen her, all with her going on that winter vacation with her cosplayer friends. "Sorry for calling you so late, ehehe, but Mayushii was thinking of you!"

"N-no problem!" Luka tried to keep himself under control, taking another shirt and hanging it in the closet. "How can I help?"

"Oh, Mayushii doesn't need any help, Luka! Mayushii just wanted to chat!"

"That's great," Luka said, not paying attention to the clothes he had in hand. He grimaced as he tried to fit the shirt onto the hanger, all while having his phone between his ear and shoulder. "Sorry, yeah! S-so, how has school been?"

"Oh, Luka! It's really different, but Mayushii has already made a lot of friends here! Plus, Mayushii's cosplay buddies are here too!"

"That is great to hear," Luka said, a little disappointed at the contrast between his situation and hers. Of course, she had already made friends there, she was genuine. Meanwhile, Luka was just a ticking time bomb of anxiety, and the only person he'd gotten to know was Nanami Nishijo, who already stressed him out incredibly.

Maybe he should join a club...

"Luka? Did you hear what I said?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Luka picked up the shirt that he dropped on the ground. "Can you repeat that?"

"Huh, our phones aren't friendly enough. Mayushii just wanted to know, have you made any friends?"

"Not really..." Nanami was not a friend. She was a prick.

"Oh, that's okay! Mayushii is still Luka's friend, after all, and you have Faris too! You also have the whole lab!"

"Thanks," Luka said, smiling warmly at her comments. As always, Mayuri always knew what to say, even if he didn't have any good news to say. She always looked on the bright side.

"Oh? Oh, sorry!" Luka heard some objects move around from Mayuri. She returned, but she was whispering now. "Sorry, my roommates are saying Mayushii should go to sleep, but Mayushii wants to keep talking to Luka, you know?"

"No, it's completely fine! Go sleep, I don't want to keep you up, Mayuri!" Truth be told, Luka's anxiety was also starting to ramp up, considering that he had zero good stories to tell about his college life so far.

"O-okay...um, good night, Luka!"

"Bye!" As soon as Luka finished, he hung up on his phone, tossing it across the room into the pillows. He didn't know why it was really bad calling Mayuri. It wasn't like he was nervous around her, they were childhood friends—was Nanami's chaos this week enough to throw off Luka's compass like that?

If it was two years ago, he would've frozen there and continued that conversation until Mayuri was done, until a bubble of anxiety popped; now, he wasn't an idiot. If he was in peril, he took his leave as soon as possible without hesitation.

There was only so much politeness that he could give out before he had to take the easy way out.

Luka quickly deposited the rest of the clothes into the closet, and he got in bed. Even though his heart was still racing from the exchange with Mayuri, he had to go to sleep now. It was late. He had class early tomorrow.

He turned the lights off and went to bed.

—

_ Where am I? _

_ I turn around. I am in some kind of park, with purple flowers and white snow falling on the ground. There is an old man, yelling something in the centre of the park, but I am unable to make out what he's saying. Then what am I hearing here? _

_ I look around. I am in some kind of city, with shining golden radio towers and pedestrians walking around. There is a boy and a girl, doing something in the playground with a portable radio, but I'm unable to make out what they're doing. Then what am I seeing here? _

_ I move around. I am in some kind of place, with feelings of doubt and thoughts of chaos. There is a light, showing something to the souls in this world, but I am unable to touch that light. Then what am I feeling here? _

_ I look up, but my head is too heavy. I struggle to lift it. But without seeing it, I somehow know. Even as the clouds are thick and grey, the sky behind them isn't blue. It is tinted with yellow. What sort of yellow is it? _

_ "Hey, you in the coat!" _

_ I never saw myself, but I know I am the one in the coat. As I look down, it is exactly what I envision. A black coat and a red skirt. Huh? I never wore skirts before. And is that a long lock of hair in my peripheral? Is it that long? _

_ Does it look nice? I cannot make out the details—the skirt is too blurry. Even if it is in front of my eyes, I still cannot understand it. Maybe I like skirts, but I cannot understand them. Maybe I act like skirts do not look nice, but I secretly adore them without knowing. What do I know about my truths? _

_ "You! I'm talking to you!" A strange boy is walking up to me, with a cheery look on his face. He's wearing a detective hat and a trenchcoat, like that one anime character. "Hey, can’t you hear me?" _

_ Even as I listen to his words, knowing the meanings behind every Japanese syllable he speaks, I don't hear him. I look around, still trying to understand where I am. _

_ "What? No, you're saying Zenigata wrong!" Zenigata? Isn't it...wait, why can I not remember the name? "Why are you here?" _

_ My mouth opens, my ears finally hearing the words he speaks. But nothing comes out, replaced by the screech of gears. Gears? _

_ "Where’s this?" Despite my confusion, he knows my question. "This’s Kichijoji." _

_ Kichijoji. I know where that is. I have never been there, but I know it. As I look around, that feels right. This is Kichijoji, exactly so. _

_ "Look, you girly looking boy." You know I'm a boy? How? Does my soul reflect it so obviously, even with my feminine nature and manner? "Why here?" _

_ I have no answer for you. Is this a dream or reality? Where am I? _

_ Then, around me, I hear the creaking of boxes. Looking around, the world is now being erased clean of colour. The only objects that remain are the golden radio towers. And from the ground, an array of boxes appear. _

_ Then the boxes start bleeding, blood oozing out. But it isn't red blood. It's purple blood. That blood is spilling onto the now white floor, and staining the floor with its colour. _

_ Oh no. Why is this going on? There's just terror all around me. _

_ I don't think I'm okay anymore. Oh no. Oh god oh no. _

_ The boy flounders, and he pulls out a gun, scanning his surroundings. "No, this isn't it. Go! Leave!" _

_ What do you mean, I should leave? How do I leave? What in the world does that even mean? Does that make sense? How does any of this make sense at all? _

_ And then, without warning, I feel someone hold my hand. "It's okay, Luka." _

_ An eerie ringtone echoes in the distance, in its ironically cheery tone. Have I not heard that before? Maybe with someone... _

_ A gaze falls from the sky. _

_ Whose— _

—

Luka opened his eyes, and he immediately sat up, trying to gather his bearings.

Luka was breathing heavily, his heartbeat beating fast. For some reason, his forehead was full of sweat, and he could hear a distant ringing sound. That sound didn't come from reality.

He put his hands over his ears, and the ringing sound disappeared immediately. That was it.

Where was he? Shibuya. Why was he here? He'd fallen asleep in his room. What led him here?

Luka tried to concentrate, but he couldn't remember anything. All he could recall was something about a hand holding out to him. Was that it? He couldn’t be sure.

Judging from his heartbeat, he had just had a nightmare. Why couldn't Luka remember any of it, though?

Maybe he would ask Miss Kurisu about it later. She was one of the world's leading neuroscientists, so she would know. Luka got out of bed and folded the sheets up. "Now then..." He shook his head, letting his hair flow around him, and he opened the closet door.

And then, his phone started ringing.

"Who..." Luka rarely got phone calls. Today was the busiest day for no reason at all. He left the closet, taking his phone and answering it. Wait, was it Mayuri? She might have wanted to call him back this morning due to how abrupt their conversation ended last night. What would he talk about?

Luka hesitated, before picking up the call. "H-hello?"

"Luka, I'm meeting you in front of the classroom, alright?"

Oh. Nanami Nishijo. Of course.

Luka's hesitation faded, replaced by annoyance. Still, he had to be polite. "Oh, hi Nanami. What's up?"

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm in my room."

"I'm coming over there right now. Where do you live?"

Luka shook his head, unbuttoning his nightshirt. "Miss Nanami, I'm currently stripping." He tossed his shirt to one side, aiming to deposit in the basket later.

"Wha—for who?"

"F-for whom?" Luka's tone turned incredulous. What in the world was she thinking? Surely she didn't...

Or did she do that sort of stuff? Luka stopped in his tracks, unable to really take off his pyjama pants without the new revelation that Nanami had put in his mind.

"O-oh! R-r-right! Sorry! I'll uh—"

Luka hung up, and he put the phone onto the edge of the bed. "Jeez..." Luka changed out of his pyjama pants into something more sensible, a pair of black trousers. How could a single conversation go south so soon?

Luka finished changing and closed the closet door, putting his dirty clothes away. He slid his phone into the back pocket of his trousers and packed his backpack of school supplies, putting it on his back.

He got into the bathroom and took his comb from the tray, running it through his hair. "Is it curling? Definitely not straight," he thought out loud.

He was wearing his standard outfit. In the mirror, he could see his black jacket stayed the same, but this time on a white T-shirt, with an Oopa printed on it in rainbow colours. It looked alright on him, even though it still made his chest look weak. Beneath, he had a pair of brown trousers on; they were a little too short, cutting off above his ankles, but he reckoned they were fine on their own.

"Hmm..." With his hair now tidy, Luka left the bathroom and exited the bedroom as well.

Now in the hallway, he walked to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out the lunch that had been prepared the day before. There was still some left, and it was better to finish it off earlier than let it sit in the fridge for too long. Serving himself a bowl of it, he reheated it with the microwave and waited against the wall.

At school, huh? He could probably meet up with her outside the classroom. That was fine. Today's first class was human psychology, and they were being assigned projects too. He had no idea what the project was, but being paired with Nanami would certainly yield...interesting results.

"Huh," Luka said, right after the microwave beeped. The timer had ended. He took out his bowl and set it down on the counter. He took some chopsticks from a drawer and dug in. "Thanks for the meal."

The food still tasted pretty good, but it had gone through the process of refrigeration and microwaving, which took away a bit of the initial taste. Still, it seemed to be okay.

"That dream..." Luka's chopsticks came to a halt, as he tried to recall his dream. But he felt like he remembered even less. He wasn't even sure if he had dreamt or not.

All he could remember was the hand that held his, but was that him remembering the dream, or just something conjured up from before? Was that hand real? Was that hand just a dream?

Why was that the only thing he could remember? The touch of a hand?

Luka shook his head, and he finished his food, washing his bowl to leave out on the rack. He put away the rest of the food (which, there was still one more serving left). With one final check, he stepped into his shoes and left the suite, locking the door behind him.

Luka went down the lift, and once the light turned green, he headed out of the opening elevator doors, making his way onto the open streets of Shibuya. It was early morning this time, but that didn't stop people from traversing the streets. There was also construction going on in the distance. He had heard something about—

Luka was interrupted by the vibration going off in his back pocket. He took out his phone, only to see a text that read,  _ Fucking get here already _ .

Luka was a bit deterred, but he shrugged it off. He still had to make his way to class, after all.

Walking through the early streets was different compared to the afternoon or even evening. In the daytime, people were mostly just trying to get to work, and there were fewer tourists present. There weren't many otakus making fools of themselves out here, as Luka observed, though there were still loudspeakers playing some sort of idol music. That much was obvious.

Standing at the Shibuya crossing, he held out his map, still checking that he was taking the right route. He wasn't the best at navigating around new places, but he could try damn well.

"Oh!"

Luka looked back, confused. That sounded like it was addressed to him, but he wasn’t sure why. Were his legs revealed? No, he was wearing trousers today. Did someone recognise him?

He then spotted a Gero Froggy keychain, and he immediately recognised who it was. "Nanami! I thought you were already at the classroom?"

"O-oh! Hi, uh, Luka!" Nanami stepped out, revealing herself to not be at class at all. "I'm making my way to class too, you know!"

Luka shook his head, a bit lost. "Nanami, you acted like you were at class already..."

"I-I...ugh!" Nanami stomped her foot on the ground, and she pointed her finger right in his face. "Stupid idiot! I wish you would go eat pasta so long that you choked on it and then coughed!"

"Huh?"

"N-nothing!" The light at the crossing turned green, and Nanami immediately started walking forward. "Come on, the light's turned green!"

"You have your arms crossed," noted Luka.

"Shut up. We're going to class."

The two made their way across the road, Nanami trying to walk ahead of Luka, and Luka looking at the back of her head. Nanami was wearing a white shirt with a red tie again, only this time with a blue jacket draped on top. She was wearing a purple skirt, though not the one they brought before. Yet despite how orderly the clothes seemed to be, they were ruffled and clumsy, with the red tie a bit loose and her shirt missing a button in the middle.

Luka then realised that Nanami didn’t even have her bag. Wait, had she forgotten entirely to bring it to class? Considering they had class together, that would be a terrible idea. Did she leave her house so late?

“Hey, Nanami? Where’s your bag?”

“In the classroom. What about it?”

“The classroom?” Luka shook his head. “Wait, didn’t you just come from your parents’ house?”

“No!” Her phone’s keychain jingled a bit. “I was already waiting at the classroom after I got breakfast from the cafeteria, but then my fucking brother called me, and he wanted me to fucking help him with something at his house! So I had to walk all the fucking way back there, and now you’re fucking here!” Nanami growled, which slightly intimidated Luka. She really was pissed this time.

“No! I wanted to help him, he’s my brother!”

“Didn’t you say you don’t like your parents?”

“Luka, fuck off, I love my bro! Come on!” Nanami’s patience was definitely wearing thinner and thinner if it wasn't already gone by now. This was the most enraged he'd ever seen her be.

Luka didn’t ask any more questions. He was planning on asking her about why her clothes looked like she just got out of sex. But if he was going to collaborate with her this morning over a school project, he didn’t need his relationship with her to further sour, even if he disliked her. “What’d you get for breakfast?”

“Fucking waffles!”

“That’s good,” Luka replied. “I just kinda had lunch from yesterday that we made…”

Nanami stopped and turned around, suddenly interested. “We? Who do you live with?” She seemed keen to hear Luka’s answer.

“Oh, one of my friends. She’s been lending me her place.” Luka didn’t want to mention that Faris had a butler, or that she was dirty rich. Nanami would probably insult him, calling him a gold digger or whatever.

“Well, at least you have a place,” Nanami sighed. “Still have to live with my fucking parents…” The two started walking again, and this time Nanami was beside Luka, no longer in front of him. It seemed that she had calmed down and was no longer annoyed over running into Luka.

“Have you considered moving out?”

“I told you, I tried,” Nanami groaned, “but my helicopter parents won’t let me. Meanwhile, my brother gets to do whatever the fuck he wants, and he’s somehow an otaku with a girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” The only other otaku that Luka could think of was probably Daru, and judging from what he heard, Daru hadn’t found a girlfriend yet. Well, apart from the various 2D wives that he always talked about, but Luka didn’t think they counted...right?

“Yeah! Would you believe it? I mean, he refuses to say he’s dating Rimi because she’s a dirty 3D girl or whatever, but personally?” Nanami leaned in close and whispered, “I think I overheard them having sex at night once.”

“That’s…” Luka’s mind was not keeping up. Judging from Nanami’s slightly terrified tone, those were probably not fond memories to her. “How does that happen?”

“I crashed at his place because my parents were driving me insane. I went back for a second night, and the noise was insufferable, those two...” Nanami shook her head. “No, don’t think about him! You stupid idiot! He can go...ahhh!” She suddenly locked eyes with Luka and started to mess up his hair, ruining all the combing he had done previously. “You idiot!”

“H-hey!” Luka batted away at her hands, trying to stop her from attacking him.

Nanami stopped. She grabbed the edges of her jacket, pulling them forward. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Sorry. I got...frustrated.”

_ As if you weren’t frustrated so many times before when you called me an idiot? _

But as usual, Luka didn’t bring that up. He still had a class to get through with her. Instead, he tried to shift the conversation away. “So, today’s our first project. How do you feel?”

“Oh, right! I’m excited of course! Hey, what do you think it’s gonna be on?” Once again, Nanami acted as if she completely forgot about the past few minutes, and she immediately locked onto the new topic.

“I don’t know. I’m a bit anxious too,” Luka admitted. “Hey, wait, where are you going?”

Nanami had turned right at the intersection instead of continuing forward. “Hmm?”

“Don’t we still have a block to go?” He took out his map, trying to find the university on it.

“What? It’s right here!” Nanami held out her finger, and Luka looked up to where she was pointing.

Oh. They were already here.

“Are you that bad at directions?” Nanami scratched her head. “Come on, Luka!’

“I must’ve gotten the streets mixed up then, haha…” This was embarrassing. He should probably walk around Shibuya more often if he was going to get lost frequently.

“Hmm…” Nanami shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. “Come on, let’s go! Class is starting soon!” She ran up the stairs and into the building doors, and Luka followed her in pursuit. “Hi, Saya! Hi, Kurusu! Sorry, can’t talk!”

Two other students waved back to Nanami, likely Saya and Kurusu. Were they her friends? For some reason, given how much she hung out with Luka, it seemed like she had too much free time.

Maybe she had a weird aggressive crush on him? Luka shuddered at the thought, remembering the time Moeka had shown him the many ways she tried to pursue coworkers at her day job, without much success.

_ Though in fairness, her co-workers were cute. He couldn’t blame Moeka for liking them. Not that Luka would have his eyes on any other boys anymore… _

Luka entered the classroom, and he sat down in his seat, where Nanami was already situated. It seemed that she had left her bag there ahead of time before she was beckoned by her brother. Currently, Nanami was playing with her Gero Froggy keychain, squishing it and watching its eyes bulge out every time.

“Who were those? Friends?”

“Huh?” Nanami looked up. “What?”

“Never mind…” Luka swallowed the question down. It was a stupid one, anyway. He didn’t stand to gain from knowing the answer, did he?

As the last of the students were trickling into the classroom, everyone got out their notebooks and worksheets. The professor still wasn’t here yet. “Hey, Luka!” He heard a whisper to his right. It was Nanami, of course. Luka turned and looked at her, a question in his eyes. “Do you have your syllabus? I think I forgot mine on the desk last night…”

“Sure,” Luka said, sliding his paper over so that Nanami could see it.

“Thanks.”

A few seconds after that tiny exchange, the professor walked in, waving his hands with all the sense of a trendsetter. Not really acknowledging that he was late, he set down his bag and took off his jacket, putting it on the back of the chair. As the professor got ready, Luka could hear a murmur spread around the class.  _ The teacher was in the coffee room because he wanted to impress this other teacher who was there. _

Luka didn’t usually participate in gossip—he didn’t see the point. But as he leaned in to read his syllabus, Nanami whispered in his ear, “do you really think the professor is trying to impress a teacher?”

Luka thought for a bit. “Maybe that’s why he’s wearing that cravat. It’s possible. He wasn’t dressed up like this last class.”

“Maybe. I heard though, that—”

The professor clapped his hands twice, startling Nanami. He set down his papers on the desk, and he walked to the front of the classroom.

And the professor greeted in English, “ _Hello, everyone!_ _Class beginning now_!”


	6. Chapter 6

Luka and Nanami walked in the corridor, side by side. It was late morning on Friday, the final day of the week. There were still students walking through the hallway, but it wasn't as crowded as the first day. Two girls wearing glasses stood by the windows, comparing worksheets with each other. A group of boys sat near the stairwell, with one having a laptop positioned in his lap. Everyone else seemed to be hurrying to get to the next class.

"It's still weird to think this is college and not secondary school..." Nanami wondered out loud. Luka nodded.

It was raining outside, with a light drizzle. Through the heavy windows, Luka could spot the trees being rained on, with the flowers falling to the ground. It was April, and it was a season that was often romanticised with rain. Either there would be lovers sharing a single umbrella so they wouldn't get wet, or single people being drenched in the pouring and merciless rain.

Thankfully, Luka and Nanami weren't planning on going outside today. The two were heading to the students' lounge on the other side of the school, having just gotten out of their human psychology class. They had been assigned a project yesterday, and the two weren't able to get working—Nanami had something suddenly come up with her brother while they were in the library, so she said that they could do it the following day instead. Luka knew how important Nanami's brother was to her, but it still irked him a bit that she wasn't able to help out with the project.

_ Personally, I just want to finish this project on the weekdays and not do it on the weekends. _ Luka himself had to head back on Sunday to perform shrine duties, which meant that he didn't have much downtime. And with Nanami's inconsistency overall...

"Hey, Luka," Nanami said. "You see that?"

"What?" Luka didn't want to get distracted again. He just wanted this project over with. Yet, he still looked at where Nanami was pointing.

She was gesturing to the bulletin board. It was a board that held a lot of the school information for the week, and Luka had read it several times this week. However, there were also some students standing around it, with their tables set up.

"What, do you want to join a club?"

"Huh? No, not at all!" Nanami held her arms up like an 'X', protesting. "I'd rather just stay at home than do clubs."

"You don't like clubs?"

"No, why would I? It's too much effort." She went up and pointed to a poster next to the board. "I'm talking about this!"

Luka saw what she was pointing at, and he understood. It was a poster for Gunvarrel, which was a new anime that had just aired worldwide a week ago. For some reason, it wasn’t airing in Japan just yet. It was a really popular manga already, rivalling the classic Gunbam series. As to what it was, Luka didn't quite get it, but he'd heard people describe it as "the hero's journey," as well as "a tale of giant robots".

Oddly enough, he'd heard one person say earlier on Tuesday that it was about "children surviving on an island eating giant robots," but Luka didn't quite believe that for some reason.

In any case, Nanami's eyes brightened when she saw the poster. "Look at that! They finally set a date for release in Japan, starting in October!"

"That sounds lovely, Nanami," Luka said. "Have you read the manga?"

"Nope!"

"Do you like mecha anime?"

"N-not really!"

"Then why are you excited about it?"

"Uh...I saw everyone else was liking it as well, hehe?" Nanami sounded slightly confused. "W-what's it matter to you? Have you read the manga?"

Luka shook his head. "I wasn't all that interested in the first place, truth be told..."

"Oh! Haha, o-okay!" Nanami backed up from the poster. "Well, I thought you were the kind of guy to like Gunvarrel..."

"Not really," he replied. "Hey, do you still want to head to the lounge?"

"Yeah!" Nanami followed Luka, as they continued to make their way to the lounge. It took them a few more turns, the two not really talking to each other along the way. It was only until they reached the lounge, Luka opening the door for Nanami to go through, that one of them finally spoke up. "Hey, Luka?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh..." Nanami scratched her head. She forgot what she was going to say, hadn't she? "Oh, right! Do you want to go to the park on Sunday?"

"Sorry, Nanami," he said, "I can't really do that. I'm going back to Akihabara to go do family duties."

"Oh, that's fine! What about Monday?"

Luka shook his head. "Nanami, I appreciate your kindness, but can we talk about this later? I would like to finish this project first." He put his bag by his chair, and he took out a set of papers. "The presentation is due next Friday, so I don't want to end up—"

"Yeah, yeah! Got it!" Nanami sighed. "Alright, what's the deal?"

"Did you bring your laptop?"

"Of course," Nanami said, taking a laptop out of her bag and booting it up. "I didn't get to start the research just yet though. Do you have your notes from class?"

"Yeah," Luka said. "Wait, you didn't bring them?"

"I forgot my notebook at home when we had class today," Nanami admitted. "Here, let me copy down your notes for now. I brought my textbook, so we can start looking for stuff in there."

"Alright," Luka replied, still a bit unsure. It didn't sound like Nanami was particularly prepared.

Luka took out his notes and handed them over to Nanami, who thanked him and began copying the notes into her own notebook. Meanwhile, Luka took over Nanami's laptop, and he started researching online for topics.

After a few minutes, Nanami finished copying her notes, and she started flipping through the textbooks for valuable information there. "Hey, Luka, what do you want to get done today?"

"I mean, I don't have much going on in the afternoon, but we can probably get half of this just done for today. Let's get research done today, at the very least."

"Sounds good to me!"

The lounge was a cosy room to study in. There was a cooler full of soda bottles, as well as a shelf of general supplies. There were two other students in the lounge working as well, but they had their headphones in their ears, so Luka and Nanami didn't have to worry about disturbing them.

"Hey, Nanami? Why is your desktop background..." Luka tried to be polite, but he couldn't dodge the metaphorical elephant in the room. "It's really lewd, you know."

"Oh, that's because it's my brother's laptop." Nanami flipped over a page. She had her hair tucked behind her ears, and Luka could almost believe she was concentrating on her work. Holding her phone in one hand, while writing with the other.

Honestly, Nanami looked nice. Luka was being serious when he thought that. Of course, that impression didn't last long as her pencil proceeded to break, with Nanami continuing to use the stubby end for a few minutes.

"Your pencil's gave out."

"Shut up," Nanami replied, taking a pen out of her bag. "I know."

Luka shook his head, and he went back to researching. The presentation was supposed to be on what they already knew about the human brain, and it tested their ability to learn what they could outside of the classroom. The project had its merits, Luka admitted, but they also had barely learned anything in these first few days. The professor seemed to run off on useless tangents almost too often.

It was also a bit hard to concentrate, with the girl in a particularly lewd pose staring behind the program windows. After thirty minutes, Luka finally gave up and quietly changed the background to a pure black desktop.  _ Seriously, how is that manga even legal? That's not clothing, that's just... _

After about an hour of the two researching, Nanami reclined back in her chair, stretching her arms. "Alright, I think I've finished up my research! Aha!"

"Yeah, just give me a few minutes," Luka said, trying to finish up his notes. He was a bit miffed over the laptop he was given, but it turned out fine in the end. After a bit of research, the project wasn't too bad. They could definitely finish this over the week if they wanted. Hell, if they were really pressed for time, they could definitely finish it today.

"Okay!" Nanami closed the textbook, and she pushed it aside, tidying up her notes. "Do you want to call it for today? I think that we can finish this on Tuesday and Wednesday, for sure."

Luka smiled. "Yes, of course." Even if he was still tense around the idea of hanging around Nanami for this whole week, at least his grades were still surviving and intact.

"Cool! Well, I better get—"

Nanami was about to stand up, when the phone vibrated in her hand, ringing with that eerily familiar ringtone. Why did it sound so familiar to Luka? He'd only heard it once before if he remembered correctly...

Nanami answered the phone, and she walked outside of the lounge. "Hey, what do you want now?" The door closed behind her, and Luka waited. Who was calling her? It seemed like she knew who was calling, so was it possibly one of her friends? Her parents? Her brother?

Nanami returned after a bit of time, but with a look of unease on her face. "Hey, I'm back." She held her phone in her arm still, but now her arm was simply hanging by her side.

"Who was it?"

"Oh, nothing important!" Nanami put her hands on her hips and huffed. "Come on, stop worrying about me so much!"

"I wasn't..." Luka returned the laptop to her, and he took back his textbook. He put his notes away, and he slung his bag over his shoulder, noticing the way Nanami seemed a bit off. "So, uh—"

"Alright talk to you later bye!" Nanami rushed out of the room, carrying her laptop under her arm and not bothering to put it in her bag. She crashed into the door and immediately started yelping in pain, before shouting vehement and pathetic insults against the door as she left.

_ She better not trip with that laptop _ , Luka thought.

It was a little sudden, but honestly, Nanami rushing off like that didn't surprise Luka at all. She seemed to always live by her own time and agenda.

He just hoped that Nanami would show up on Tuesday so they could finish their project.

—

She didn't show up on Tuesday.

Luka had waited in the library, his posture tense while waiting for Nanami to arrive. Ten minutes passed before Nanami finally texted him, telling him that she was out shopping with her friends today.

That hurt Luka a bit. It seemed irresponsible, but he supposed that Nanami had other friends to spend time with. Besides, Nanami had passed the notes over to him, so he could technically finish the project by himself now. It wasn't what Luka really wanted to see, though.

_ Have fun, _ Luka texted back, a little bitter. He didn't want to make her feel guilty for not being here, though—given the choice, Luka would want to spend time with the Future Gadget Lab as well instead of schoolwork. At least Nanami had promised that she would come back on Wednesday to finish, so he could just wait until then.

—

_ Sorry, my friends dragged me along again, haha, _ was the reply he got on Wednesday morning. Apparently, she was out for the whole day as well.

"What the hell," Luka muttered. This was not what he wanted to hear now.

The project was due next class, and Nanami was completely out of commission. This meant that Luka had to finish the project on his own, even though they had agreed to split the work evenly.

Besides, did Nanami really not have the power to say no, especially when she had just gone out with her friends yesterday?

_ So I have to finish everything? _

_ Yeah, sorry! _

The response felt so insincere over text; it read as if the project didn't really matter to her. She could just leave the work to Luka, and that was fine.

Luka didn't want to be disrespectful, but he was starting to lose his patience with her. Come to think of it, why did she constantly spend time with him?

Luka left his seat from the library. "I'll come back to this later," he said. It was noon anyway. He would grab lunch and come back to finish the project on his own.

Walking out of the library, he noticed the rainy sky outside. He opened the umbrella he held in his hand, and the raindrops scattered onto its surface, rolling off the edges around Luka. There were a lot fewer people outside today, but everyone had their umbrellas out. After all, Shibuya was the city that never slept.

Luka was walking down the pavement, paying attention to his map. He wanted to find a nearby pub to simply grab some food from. There was one just down the road, so he planned on visiting that one. It was a McD's, somewhere that Luka didn't go very often. The food always felt cheap, and it was just guilty to go in there sometimes.

Nevertheless, he entered, opening the door with the familiar jingle of any store. He stood in the queue, which had people that were soaked in varying degrees of rain. One fellow had their umbrella still open, which Luka felt was rather disrespectful, but he made no comment. After all, he didn't want to attract any more attention than he wanted.

He had learned that when he encountered those voyeurs all those years ago.

The queue wasn't too long, and Luka soon got to the front of the line. He ordered one of the chicken burgers, and he thanked the cashier who took his order number. He left the queue to sit at one of the tables, waiting for his order to arrive. He chose one by the side of the store, with windows that had droplets of rain stained against the glass. As Luka ran his fingers over the cool, smooth glass, he could almost feel the moisture peer through. It was spring season, for sure.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted someone. Someone with purple eyes like him, blonde hair, and wearing a blue jacket. Someone who sat dejectedly at their table, with a burger and fries on their tray. Someone who had claimed to be out with friends today.

That was Nanami.

Luka's mind jumped straight into criticism. What was she doing in a McD’s? Where were her friends? Why did she look so dejected? If she can have McD's, why did she say that she was out for the whole day? These were all questions that were burning in Luka's subconscious, waiting to confront Nanami.

But Luka had more self-control than that. He didn't want to end up being a bitch, for the lack of a better term. Instead, he silently watched her. He thanked the waiter for the order when it came around, but Luka didn't bother eating. He simply stared, trying to decipher whatever she was doing.

As it turned out, Nanami had the same exact idea. She didn't eat her food at all, and she just stared downwards at the table. She took out her phone to look at it a couple of times. Was she waiting for a text?

Maybe Luka was wrong. There were plenty of girls in Shibuya who also had blonde hair, he knew that. There could be girls in Shibuya with purple eyes as well. But that Gero Froggy keychain on the phone...

No one was still obsessed with those things, even now.

Luka took out his own phone, and he decided to test the waters. He texted Nanami,  _ Hey, do you want to grab lunch together? _

Nanami noticed the text, and her fingers typed ever so fast. Not as fast as Moeka would have, but definitely fast to prove that she texted often.

_ Sorry, we’re actually not in Shibuya today. We’re visiting Ikebukuro! _

Liar. She was lying to his face. Luka had seen her respond to his text, so he knew it was her. Of course, Nanami wasn’t visiting Okabe and Mayuri’s hometown. Why was she trying to convince him that she was out of town?

Was she...did she not want to talk to Luka? Was she disgusted by the thought of hanging around a girly boy? She had given him panties at the shopping centre, so Nanami didn't really get the point at all. She also seemed to get constantly irritated over Luka, shouting mean things at him, no matter how pathetic the insults were.

And that first day...

That's right, the first day they met. She had directly accused him of being a thief with no evidence.

Luka's frustration grew. He'd been able to tolerate a lot from Nanami, but this was just unfair. Why would she be such a prick in his face like that? Did she really like him in the first place, or was she just taking advantage of him?

He didn't say anything. He just continued to spy on her. As the people moved around her, one stranger moving to sit down across from Nanami, she simply stayed put, not saying anything.

And then, Nanami stood up, and she headed towards the exit of the store, not even looking back. Her footsteps seemed unsteady, like a marionette pulled by the strings hanging above. With nothing to shield her from the rain, she simply walked out, the rain soaking her hair and clothes as she left the restaurant. Her tray of food stayed intact on the table, untouched.

Luka blinked. This wasn't normal. Even if she got on his nerves a lot, this didn't feel like it made sense to him.

Was she really okay?

—

"I'm here, I'm here!" Nanami rushed into the classroom, nearly falling over as she did so. "Did you finish the project?"

"Yes," Luka replied, his politeness hiding his irritation.

"Oh thank god." She sat down beside him and took out a bunch of notecards. "I'm so sorry for not being able to make it these past two days, my friends are just...you know?"

Luka nodded, not bringing up the strange scene that he witnessed yesterday at noon. Now wasn't the time to ask her—they had a project to present first. He could ask her about it after class if necessary.

Still, he felt that his relationship with her had strained a lot from yesterday's discovery. Did she really mean what she did? Why did he still hang around her? Was he just wasting time?

"Hey, Luka."

"What is it, Nanami?"

"Do you want to go with me to one of the parks on Saturday? I want to show you one of the sights here in Shibuya. I've been there so many times by now."

"I don't know if I'll have time..." Luka wanted a bit of time on his own, admittedly, but he also didn't have anything on Saturday planned...

"Come on!" Nanami whined. "Please?"

"Fine..."

"Yay!" Nanami raised her fists in the air in victory. Luka smiled at the sight. Maybe this strange classmate wouldn't last long with him, but he could cherish the little moments before he broke this apart.

The professor stood up. "Alright! Miss Nishijo and Miss Urushibara, please present!"

_ Only time would tell, wouldn't it? _


	7. Chapter 7

Luka waited at the entrance of the university. He patiently looked around, hoping to see her soon. If she showed up late on her own appointment, that would just be more salt on the wound. He’d already been stood up twice by her not showing up—if this were going to be the third occurrence, Luka would rather call up Nanami right now and tell her that he had no more interest in hanging out with her.

Most people would probably call him a bit harsh and rude, but most people weren’t as tired as Luka was now with her.

It was Saturday morning, around 10 o’ clock. There were a couple of kids walking on the other side of the road, probably going to a nearby mall or playground. There were cars going down the road, probably out of town or whatever. It was a very busy place, and Luka wasn’t too sure why he moved to Shibuya in the first place. Wouldn't it have been easier to stay in Akihabara?

But Luka wanted the space. He wanted the space away from his family. He didn’t want to have his life be devoted to the shrine, as easy as that would be. His dad never raised him to be a shrine priest, and all he ever did was force him into miko robes. His sister had left for university, so what use was it for him to stay? There were others who could fulfil the same duty of being a shrine maiden. Luka still pledged to go back every Sunday, but ideally, he’d be able to put it behind him.

Would the gods want a shrine maiden as strange as him, anyway?

“Hey, Luka!” Luka heard someone yell from the far end of the street. “I’m here!” He turned around, and he saw Nanami running toward him. According to Luka’s time, Nanami was late by two minutes to her own meeting with him. Luka really shouldn’t have let her slide like that.

But he didn’t let up. He smiled politely and nodded. “Hello, Nanami. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…just, hold up, give me a sec to breathe…fuck…” Nanami leaned against the gate and tried to control her breathing. “Do you know how far the Kitazawa ward is from here when you try and run here?”

Luka was confused. Even if he didn’t step outside Akihabara much, Tokyo was still just Tokyo. There wasn’t much distance to walk.

“Three kilometres!” Nanami shook her head. “And it’s this hot today…”

It really wasn’t that hot. The sun was out in the blue sky, and it was twenty-three degrees outside when Luka had left his place. If anything, it was just a nice day, but Nanami apparently thought otherwise.

That being said, Nanami was dressed a bit differently today. She was wearing a pair of blue overalls over a white blouse, with a purple ribbon tying the top of her blouse, somewhat similar to the choker he was wearing himself. Yet, that outfit really didn’t work on Nanami for some reason. It seemed too loose on someone like Nanami, who seemed to be more athletic-oriented in Luka’s mind. She just looked like a bum wearing that.

“Alright, come on, let’s go,” Nanami grumbled, already beginning to walk to their destination. Luka followed at somewhat of a distance. Luka didn’t have much to think about, but he probably looked like he had no connection to her at all, or he was stalking her suspiciously. That second option rued Luka’s mind, as he remembered the reason why he cried at the mall a week ago.

Not anymore. He wouldn’t be that much of a pushover today.

“Say, you…you look nice today,” Nanami said softly. Luka was surprised at the sincerity of her comment. From what he could tell, there didn’t seem to be jealousy laced with her words this time, and that seemed only to make Luka blush. He didn’t expect that to come from her.

Luka had dressed up a bit for today, admittedly. He was wearing the blue cold-shoulder top that Nanami had brought him, paired with black trousers below. It just felt right to Luka today, and he wasn’t sure why. Regardless, he felt somewhat flattered by Nanami.

“T-thank you, Nanami.”

“Yeah.”

The two were walking along the streets of Shibuya, and Luka could feel the energy shift in this part of Tokyo. He hadn’t really experienced the weekend side of Shibuya, and supposedly, it wasn’t supposed to be that different from Akihabara. It was still a Tokyo ward. There was a gathering around Shibuya Station, including a few protest groups and officials arguing with them. If Luka had to guess, they were arguing over reconstruction and organisation in the Shibuya rebuilding project. Shibuya was still not up-to-date, but people had mostly forgotten about the damage by now.

Nanami took out her phone and was staring at it as she walked forward. When they reached the crossing, they turned left onto the street, but Nanami’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. Luka didn’t want to appear overly nosy, so he didn’t look, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was occupying Nanami’s mind. Even though she seemed to be grumbling about the heat (?), she was mostly silent the whole way, with not much sarcasm to throw around this time.

Luka really didn’t want to think about it, considering how he felt his relationship with her was strained at this point, but Nanami’s eyes seemed to just be clouded with some sort of darkness. If he had to guess, it was the same darkness he’d seen at the mall that day, and the same darkness he’d witnessed at the McD’s. Those eyes didn’t belong to a college freshman who spent money and clothes and fast food, nor did they belong to a hot-tempered brat. If Faris were here, she probably would’ve said that those eyes had a dark history behind them.

_ Whose eyes are those eyes? _

Luka tried to shake off the tingly feeling in his back. Thinking about this wasn’t healthy. “Hey, Nanami?”

“Huh?!” She seemed alarmed by him calling her name. She quickly put away her phone, almost out of guilt, and looked towards Luka with a smile. “Hey! What’s the matter?”

“Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Nanami tilted her head to the side, looking confused. “What do you mean?”

“Never mind…” Luka kept walking with her, not saying anymore. He didn’t have a lot in common with Nanami, so there weren’t many topics that they could bring up. Besides, he didn’t really want to dig up other reasons for him to stay.

He’d spend the day with her today, and then she’d hopefully get off his back after seeing how boring he was in real life. She had other friends to spend the day with, so he didn’t really need it. He could probably survive college on his own. He had the Future Gadget Lab on his side, too.

_ Hasn’t it only been two weeks? Why am I thinking this hard about something so trivial? _ Luka didn’t have a good answer.

“Oh, it’s over there. I must’ve thought it was farther away, ahaha!” Nanami laughed, pointing to the park that they were walking toward. “Here we are! Nabeshima Shoto Park!”

Luka was surprised. The sight seemed really nice, even in the middle of the city—but at the same time, he was a bit confused.

“I thought when you said park in Shibuya, we were going to Yoyogi…”

“Huh?” Nanami shook her head. There was an incredulous look on her face as she heard Luka. “Yoyogi always has too many people. Besides, this is way better. Almost all of my friends come here instead.”

Luka didn’t really know how to absorb that information, but it seemed like Nanami knew what she was talking about. The two walked into the park, with Luka’s hand quietly tracing over the stone that marked the gate. It felt rough, but undisturbed. It didn’t have the same feeling of urban life that the rest of Shibuya had.

If anything, this reminded Luka of the shrine, his home. A place unperturbed by the surrounding Tokyo, which seemed to be pushing all sorts of urban upgrades.

“I think this was the only place that wasn’t destroyed by the Shibuya earthquake…” Nanami whispered. “Is it? No wait, I think I heard my brother say that it did, and with Miss Kusunoki...” She seemed to be drifting off again, her eyes slowly clouding again as she walked with Luka in the park.

Luka couldn’t really bear to see her like this constantly. He didn’t know what was going on, but it made him uncomfortable. “Nanami!”

“H-huh? Hi!” Nanami jolted back into consciousness, and she looked at Luka with surprise. It seemed that she realised what had happened, because she soon gave an apologetic look, her face looking down. “Sorry, I just…”

“The earthquake, right?”

“Huh?”

Luka tried again. “You know, the earthquake in Shibuya. That’s what you were thinking about again, right?”

“O-oh. Yeah, that’s what it was,” Nanami said rather slowly. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It must’ve been a devastating event for anyone there.” Luka spotted a bench, and an idea came to him. “Hey, maybe we should rest for a bit before continuing. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“R-really?” Nanami looked alarmed at his comment. “Do I look that bad?”

“You look good, don’t worry,” Luka said offhandedly. He didn’t know if he really meant it, but then again, it didn’t really matter. He sat down on the bench and gestured to the spot next to him. “Here.”

“You’re sitting where my brother always sits…” Nanami said, probably to herself. Was everything really centred around Nanami’s brother so much? Luka couldn’t help but wonder what the story was behind that.

Nanami sat down, but she didn’t seem to relax at all. Instead, she looked onward to the pond, her back still tense. She didn’t sink into the bench like Luka would’ve expected.

Luka was seriously concerned. He didn’t bother to look where Nanami was looking. Instead, he was observing her face, trying to see what it was in her. Hadn’t it been almost three years? Luka knew that events like these took time to recover from, but from what he could tell, Nanami wasn’t like this usually.

Or maybe, he simply had been looking in the wrong direction and didn’t know Nanami at all.

He heard Nanami whisper something. “It’s so hot…” Then, without any warning at all, Nanami started undoing the ribbon at her collar, causing the white blouse to open up. She exposed her collarbone, her blouse now taking on a low collar, and she wiped the sweat off her now slightly exposed chest.

Luka simply didn’t say anything, quietly watching her while internally begging for her to put it back on. If anything, it wasn’t causing him to feel butterflies inside—it was just causing him to freak out and worry about misunderstandings. Had she forgotten that he was a boy?

Luka did not want Nanami to make  _ requests _ of him, even if Luka had yet to see her bra from how low her collar was.

_ Wait, what if she isn’t wearing one? _ Luka’s legs started to quiver. Why was he such a scaredy-cat, compared to the other perverts in the Lab?

“Hey, Luka.”

“C-can you not undress like that?” He tried his best to sound confident, looking away from her unkempt and rather lewd outfit.

Nanami seemed to realise what he meant. “O-oh…sorry…” She pulled the edges of her blouse together and retied the ribbon. “That must’ve been uncomfortable…but I care…”

“Huh…” Luka nodded. He didn’t know if he was supposed to respond or not. Truth be told, he didn’t really know how to comfort people at all. He was always the soft one who got comforted by others in the lab, so when it came to him to take the role, he didn’t know what to do. If Nanami’s solution was going to be stripping, Luka didn’t want a part in it.

Then Luka remembered. When Mayuri was down that one time, Luka had reached out to hold her hand. That was what Mayuri always did, wasn’t it? That strange thing that she called “Stardust Handshake”. When Luka held her hand and told her that everything was going to be okay, Mayuri smiled for the first time in a while.

And honestly, it was Okabe who had given him the idea. The lesson passed down from master to disciple.

Luka decided it didn’t hurt to try. Even if he felt stressed about Nanami, he had to do what he could.

Luka extended his arm out, and he reached for Nanami’s right hand, which was currently placed on her lap, still wearing that cheap golden bracelet. His fingers wavered, and Luka could already feel a phantom-like cold that he never felt. It was like a shield of frost that lay between him and her hand, for some reason. He hesitated, not sure whether the gesture would be too risqué, before eventually holding on—

“Don’t touch me!!” Nanami screamed.

Her hand retracted spontaneously, stumbling off of the bench and onto the floor. She didn’t get up however, simply laying there and staring at Luka with eyes of terror, trying to crawl away. Her breath was no longer slow at all, and she was hyperventilating, her eyes dilating. She hid her hand from his sight. “Don’t, don’t touch me there, you monster!”

“H-huh?” Luka was starting to distress as well.  _ What the hell is going on?!  _ This was the exact opposite effect of what he wanted. Instead of comforting her, he’d only caused her to have a full on panic attack. “Nanami, I—”

“Don’t fucking speak to me, you, you…” Nanami couldn’t say anything. It was as if she was completely rendered paralysed by what Luka had just done. “You…”

“Nanami, I’m sorry,” Luka immediately started. “I didn’t mean to cause you so much stress, please forgive me!”

“You fucking…” Nanami’s breath seemed to regain control. She didn’t get up from her position though, instead collapsing into the floor. The terror in her eyes seemed to fade, being replaced by regret. “I’m...I’m sorry, I just…lashed out at you like that again…”

“N-no, it’s okay!” Luka didn’t want Nanami to feel bad. If anything, he was the one that screwed up. He shouldn’t have invaded her privacy like that.

“Luka…” Nanami croaked.

“Y-yeah?’

“Help me up, please…I can’t feel my body anymore…” Her head dropped, collapsing into the floor. “Luka…”

Luka hesitated. He was worried about triggering some sort of reaction from her again. Clearly, she didn’t want to be touched at all. “Are you sure you won’t…”

“Just, just don’t touch…my hand…” Nanami managed to say. Luka nodded, and he got up from the bench, sitting down on the bit of path behind Nanami. He gingerly wrapped his arms around her chest, noting that Nanami only shuddered a little upon the feeling, and he slowly righted her up in a sitting position.

“Is that better?” Luka asked.

“Y-yeah…” Nanami shut her eyes tight, trying to control her breathing. It seemed to only stress her out more, so her eyes opened again. Luka started letting go, thinking that Nanami probably didn’t want him to help out more than he should, but Nanami shook her head, using her left hand to hold him there. “D-don’t, just…keep holding me…I don’t want you to…let go, just yet…”

Luka stayed there, his arms holding Nanami. He hoped that she couldn’t hear his heartbeat right now, which was full of panic and stress that he tried to push down. Had she always had this problem? Was she this violent?

But as Luka waited, he could feel Nanami’s breath start to ease up in his grasp. Her entire body seemed to relax from its tense position before, and she started to lean back into his chest, her eyes still closed.

“Luka…”

“Yes, Nanami?”

“I’m tired…”

“It’s alright, Nanami,” he whispered.

Nanami didn’t respond. Her eyes were shut, her breathing gone quiet, her tiny chest bobbing with every breath, her body lying in Luka’s lap.

Luka sat there, watching Nanami’s sleeping face. It was only now, that he realised how creepy he had been with Nanami over the past few days. First, he had spied on her on Wednesday; then, he had been looking at her thighs this morning; now, he was practically staring into her cheeks, and watching the tears roll down them.

She was crying in her sleep.

While he couldn’t move, he tried to reassess the situation that he was in. He was currently sitting with a girl in his lap while she slept, and she had previously panicked at his attempt of reassurance. If anything, Luka figured that Nanami had passed out.

She had, hadn’t she? Luka didn’t want to believe that Nanami hadn’t slept for days, but the more he looked, the bags under her eyes were not disproving his idea. What kind of Nanami was this?

Was Luka even okay with letting this continue?

Luka felt that rationally, he should try and end today by telling Nanami that he doesn’t want to get wrapped up in her business anymore. He had never been more exhausted by  _ school _ out of all things, and most of it was because of his interactions with Nanami. The few days that he didn’t go with Nanami were the breathers. He was surely going to collapse if he continued this.

And yet, it felt that Nanami was acting differently today. Less sarcasm and biting remarks, and replaced with a strange feeling that Luka couldn’t describe.

Luka slowly got up, carrying Nanami to the bench. He was going to lay her down on the bench and sit beside her, since he felt that it would just be inappropriate of him to keep her so close to him. They weren’t even close friends. It was just wrong.

But when Nanami seemed to protest in her sleep, as if a panic rushed over her when he would let go, Luka couldn’t let her go; he sat on the bench, continuing to hold Nanami in his lap. Only then did Nanami’s breathing seem to ease up.

Without really realising it, Luka sighed and looked downward, the shadows of the trees hiding the suffering in his heart.

_ Don’t make me end up worrying for you, or I’ll only regret it more when I let you go. _

\--

Luka was watching the fish in the pond chase each other. The sun was still up, but lunch was about to pass by, and Luka hadn’t left his seat at all. He’d gotten a few strange looks from passing strangers, and he simply hoped that the strangers would think he and Nanami were either just two female friends or a romantic couple. It would save a lot of explanation if they thought so.

He felt something move in his lap. “Huh…? Where am I?”

Luka smiled. “Good morning, Nanami.”

“Good morning…” Nanami replied, rubbing her eyes with her hands. “Sorry, where are we…?”

“We’re at the park, you know?”

“Oh, right…I remember now…” Nanami extended her arms, and she slowly got up. “Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, for sleeping in your lap…”

Under other circumstances, Luka would’ve been worried about the impending sexual harassment charges, but he didn’t have time to think about that now. All that mattered to him right now was not causing Nanami to break again like last time.

“Nanami?”

“Yeah…” She looked downtrodden. She sat down next to Luka, with her hands fidgeting in her lap. “I was planning to apologise for the past week, and all the trouble I caused by not being there.”

“O-oh.” Luka didn’t have anything to say. That wasn’t what he expected her to talk about.

“I lied. I wasn’t with any friends. I just…” Nanami hesitated. She seemed unsure of how much she wanted to reveal. “You’ll probably think I’m an idiot for being such an emotional turmoil over this, but I…when I got that call on Friday, my brother was telling me that he was leaving for America, for an offer there.”

_ Oh. _

“I thought he was leaving in a couple of months, maybe August or something, but he told me he needed my help to pack things up. And then on Tuesday, he left with his girlfriend.” Nanami tried to hold her voice steady, but Luka could hear it breaking already. “He just left. He warned me before, but I didn’t think it was so soon. And now I have no one here.”

“D-don’t you have friends?” Luka tried to say.

“I don’t have any friends,” Nanami said, shaking her head. “The only people I know here are old classmates, who I was never close with. They just do boring stuff. Nothing like me, Takumi and Rimi.”

_ That must be Nanami’s brother and his girlfriend. _

“I have other friends, of course, but they’re nowhere in Shibuya now. One’s in the best school in America living with her girlfriend, one’s doing concerts around Japan, one’s writing her own novel…” Nanami bit her lip. “I don’t have any friends here.”

Luka was still lost. She didn’t think she had any friends in Shibuya, and Takumi and Rimi had left for America…

“So why did you lie?”

“I wanted it to be true,” Nanami replied. “But all I did was sulking. Trying to imagine how I’d continue without my brother. I wanted time alone. I haven’t been able to sleep, knowing my brother is in America.”

“Can’t you still call him?”

Nanami shook her head. “It’s not the same. I won’t be able to bring him lunch, and I won’t be able to stay at his house. All I can do is ask him what he did today, and listen as I know I can’t be a part of his life while being stuck in Japan.”

Luka understood that sort of guilt. Okabe had told him that he’d been chasing after Kurisu for two years, and writing over long distances was horrible apparently. If anything, Luka always felt a certain distance with his own sister now, since she seemed to only come home occasionally.

“I…I know Rimi will take good care of him,” Nanami muttered, “but I had already lost everyone. That’s why…that’s why I realised I wanted to hang around you more.”

“Huh?”

“Ever since that day you crashed into me, I kept thinking if that was my chance to make a new friend,” Nanami started. “I was sure you’d hate me, but I still pressed on. I saw you enter the shopping centre, and I followed you inside the clothing section, hoping that you’d notice me and start a conversation with me.”

_ She followed me inside and spent her time with me the whole time? _

“I was at the scramble crossing, and I wanted to find you by myself. That wasn't a coincidence. I…I wanted to know how it would feel walking with you to university together.”

_ All of it was intentional? _

“And I…” Nanami hung her head low, in guilt. “I knew I was being an asshole by leaving you alone to finish the project, to mourn over myself, but…I was waiting at the library as well, just to know if you got mad at me. I’m guilty of caring too much over a mere classmate who probably is scared of me now.”

Luka didn’t understand. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I…I guess I’m giving you a reason to cut relations with me now,” Nanami said, chuckling weakly. “It’s pathetic, but you’ve had to put up with the likes of me for so long that I bet you’re tired by now. I’ll go if you want me to.”

Luka stayed silent. There was a lot to take in. Knowing that Nanami intentionally wanted to become friends with Luka, especially under the context of her brother leaving Japan and her lack of a social life in school…did it really change his mind at all?

No, it didn’t. None of it did. Nanami was still a prick.

“Miss Nishijo…”

“Y-yes?” Nanami sounded scared of hearing what Luka had to say. She was probably expecting the worst to come out of his mouth, especially now that he was using her last name.

“I have very little reason to stay here with you.” Luka stared directly into her eyes, which simply glazed to the side, avoiding his gaze in guilt. “You accused me of stealing your phone.”

“Y-yeah.”

“You also humiliated me by buying panties for a boy.”

“I…I thought—”

Luka raised his finger to her lips. “Shh. Don’t make excuses.” Nanami nodded. “You also abandoned me when we had a project to finish, and you caused me to lose sleep over a simple project.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Nope.” Luka held his ground, determined to finish his point. “You’re an absolute prick, you know that?”

Nanami got up, unable to handle it anymore. “That’s enough! If you’re going to continue making me feel guilty, I’ll leave!” She stood up and started making steps to leave.

But Luka was quicker. He grabbed her left hand, which alarmed Nanami, but not to the degree beforehand.  _ Maybe it’s her right hand that’s sensitive, _ he thought.

Nanami was still not okay with him, it seemed. “Stop it! Let go of me, you asshole!”

Luka shook his head, getting up, and closing the distance between him and her. “Not until you promise that you’ll be nicer to me next time.”

“H-huh?” Nanami blinked, the confusion eminent in her eyes. “I don’t understand…”

“I’m saying,” Luka started, “that we’re friends,  _ you stupid idiot _ .”

It took several seconds for Nanami to register the fact. Luka could see the gears in her mind turning, her eyes blinking, her breath hitching, as she slowly understood the words that he spoke.

“F-friends?”

“Yeah, friends. Because I care about you too.” Luka smiled back. For once, he didn’t feel there was any guilt behind the smile. There were no lies to hide. There was no reluctance.

He was genuine this time. He really did want to be friends with her.

“B-but you don’t know how much of a monster I am…”

“So?” Luka shrugged. “What, are you going to get mad at me being friends with you?”

“Y-you…” That seemed to just tick Nanami in the right spot, a twitch starting to go over her face. “You stupid idiot, why would I do that?”

Luka laughed. It just wasn’t the same hearing those words from his own mouth as opposed to hers, and hearing her intonation just made him laugh.

“What?!”

“Nothing,” Luka chuckled. “I’m just glad to have a friend like you.”

Nanami’s scowl softened at hearing that, and her eyes seemed to shine with hope, the familiar purple colour shining once more in those pupils. “You…you really are willing to be friends with me?”

“Nanami, I don’t know if you know this, but you have been putting your foot in all aspects of my college life so far.”

“Sorry…”

“And yet,” Luka said, smiling warmly and looking at the bright blue sky above them, “these past two weeks have probably been the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It’s like the summer of 2010 all over again.”

Nanami stared at him and slowly leaned in. Then, suddenly…

She hugged him.

“Thank you,” she said, and Luka heard her voice crack as she did so.

The two stood there, unable to let go of each other’s embrace, enjoying the warm sun’s light bathing down on them. It was a sweet and genuine moment, and Luka felt that the words he’d said a week ago…

_ That had been a lie, hadn’t it? _

It wasn’t about Nanami’s brother or her following him. Rather, it opened up to Luka, making him realise how sincere Nanami had been all this time.

He’d be an asshole if he said that he didn’t enjoy those times too, despite all the rues that she’d put him through.

“Hey, Nanami?” Luka whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to head to McD’s for lunch?” Luka asked. Nanami’s reaction seemed to be of surprise, as she let go of him, looking at him with a stare like he’d just mentioned a high-priced restaurant.

“W-what? How do you know that’s my favourite?”

“I saw you on Wednesday there, actually…”

Nanami’s hand twitched. “You…you knew the whole time? You were spying on me too!”

Luka held his hands up in protest. “Nanami, you have to understand—”

“It’s Nana.”

“Huh?”

“Call me Nana,” she said, a bit embarrassed.

“Okay Nana,” Luka said. The name seemed to roll off the tongue. He could get used to this. “I was going to—”

“Too long didn’t read,” Nanami blurted, “let’s go to McD’s!” She turned around and started running out of the park. Luka sighed, realising that he had to chase after her.

“Wait up, Nanami!”

“Nope! Race you there!”

As Luka ran to catch up with her, he caught himself smiling. As the grief-stricken river was crossed once more, with a pair of ravens shrieking above the Shibuya skyline…

_ Nanami and I are friends. That is the truth. _

_ That’s how it's been from the very beginning, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this first run of University in Shibuya! I had a lot of fun doing this. One of my goals was being able to bring new life to characters, so I hope you certainly enjoyed. 
> 
> If you did enjoy it, or just have any thoughts on it you want to share, feel free to leave a comment. University in Shibuya will be pausing for the next month or two, but I intend to continue it, no worry. I have many more stories to tell with these characters, so stay tuned until then.
> 
> In the meantime, if you want to find out about the other SciADV content that I do outside of writing, you can find me on Twitter, @AFalsePrayer, where I post of most of my updates as well as new content. There are some new posts that I'll be making for the month of April, so stay tuned.
> 
> Once again, thank you! I'll see you in a few months!


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